Hacked Off has acquired a letter that vividly shows newspaper bosses giving orders to government ministers behind the scenes, just weeks after the Leveson Report declared that such secret manipulation damaged the interests of the public. Continue reading
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Earlier this month Mr Justice Eady presided over his final case as a High Court Judge. He is due to retire on 24 March 2013 after nearly 16 years on the High Court bench. For 10 years he was the judge in charge of the jury list – his retirement from that post in October 2010 provoked widespread (and largely misinformed) media comment. Continue reading
Whistleblowing has never been closer to the top of the news agenda. As the headlines shift from one scandal to the next, we learn that the story only broke because of a whistleblower (phone-hacking), or that the wrongdoing would have been stopped earlier had whistleblowers had better protection (Savile). Continue reading
The CPS made an announcement about Operation Weeting, the Metropolitan Police’s investigation into phone hacking. It has concluded that in relation to eight of 13 suspects there is “sufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction in relation to one or more offences”; and that a prosecution is “required in the public interest“. In relation to three of the remaining suspects, it has concluded that there is “insufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction“. Continue reading
Hacking, blagging and bribing were, for many years, standard journalistic techniques in parts of the British press. Their exposure led to continuing police investigations, over 100 arrests, several criminal prosecutions and the Leveson inquiry. These criminal techniques were accompanied by intrusion, bullying, inaccuracy and a range of other abuses by the press. Continue reading
If Lord Justice Leveson’s recommendations are implemented in full, does that mean that it will be easier for police officers conducting investigations to seize confidential research materials from journalists? The idea has gained some currency, but the answer to the question is no. Continue reading
Today, Saturday February 23rd 2013, is International Privacy Day. To mark it, I’ve done a re-boot of an old blog post: ‘Privacy is not the enemy’. The original post (which you can find here) came back in December 2011, after I attended an ‘open data’ event organised by the Oxford Internet Institute – but it’s worth repeating, because those of us who advocate for privacy often find themselves having to defend themselves against attack, as though ‘privacy’ was somehow the enemy of so much that is good. Continue reading
On 14 February 2013, a Irish High Court jury awarded defamation damages of €150,000 to billionaire businessman Denis O’Brien (pictured) in a claim against the Irish Daily Mail. The jury rejected the defence of honest opinion, finding that the article was not based on fact and was not in the public interest. Continue reading
Three weeks ago the great former Sunday Times editor Sir Harry Evans accused the national press of gross distortion and staggering misrepresentation in their coverage of Lord Justice Leveson’s report. Well, since then it has got a lot worse. Continue reading
Five days ago, the Conservatives outlined their plans for implementing the Leveson Recommendations (the Recommendations”) by creating an independent panel, established by Royal Charter, to verify that any new press regulator is effective. Yesterday, the Information Commissioner put a spanner in these works; he has published outline plans for his own voluntary Code of Practice and is consulting on its possible content. Continue reading
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