“Police gave Leveson a dossier on hacking by big firms and lawyers… but he dismissed it in 18 minutes… Evidence about the three-year inquiry was given by Russell Middleton, who was then an acting assistant chief constable for Devon and Cornwall Police.” Daily Mail (here) It seems the Mail have finally discovered some evidence given to Leveson over a year ago about a provincial police investigation more than ten years old. And about time too. Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Tag: Data Protection (Page 1 of 2)
The press defended private investigators (“PIs”) from regulation, then turned around and asked why they hadn’t been regulated. As an example, of the latter, on 25 July 2013 Tom Harper wrote in the Independent: Continue reading
The Daily Mail, in a rage about solicitors allegedly employing rogue private investigators, has denounced a ‘wall of silence‘ among big law firms while at the same time accusing them of using ‘nothing but weasel words’. Continue reading
Case C-131/12: Google Spain SL & Google Inc. v Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD) & Mario Costeja González – Opinion of AG Jääskinen. This reference to the European Court of Justice (CJEU) concerned the application of the 1995 Data Protection Directive to the operation of internet search engines. Continue reading
On 22 June 2013 the Independent published a genuine scoop – ‘The Other Hacking Scandal‘ (here). Tom Harper obtained and reported on the full and unredacted version of the 2008 Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) report on ‘Project Riverside’. It collated and detailed five investigations uncovering serious illegalities by ‘rogue element’ private investigators. The Indy’s scoop triggered a chain reaction amongst some of Harper’s fellow journalists seeking to blame Leveson for keeping them in the dark. Continue reading
On Saturday the “Independent” ran a story about a 2007 report from the Serious Organised Crime Agency (“SOCA”) suggesting that law firms, telecoms giants and insurance were hiring private investigators to break the law and further their commercial interests. The activities identified by the investigation were said to have included telephone tapping and hacking and blagging information from banks, credit card companies and mobile phone companies. Continue reading
In April 2013, Google was fined by the German data regulator £125,000 for recording and storing data illegally from homes using unsecured Wi-Fi networks. The information was collected by Google whilst it was gathering material for its Streetview project. The Hamburg data regulator Johannes Caspar was clear: “In my opinion, this case constitutes one of the biggest known data violations in history” he said. Continue reading
If Leveson’s proposals to erode the journalistic exemption under the Data Protection Act 1998 (“DPA”) materialise, libel claimants may have an extra string to their bow. But is the DPA already being used and abused by libel claimants? Ashley Hurst and Jack Gilbert discuss.
Amongst the many recommendations in Lord Justice Leveson’s 2,000-page report, his proposed changes to the UK data protection regime would include significantly scaling back the journalistic exemption currently afforded by section 32 of the DPA. This exemption currently allows data controllers to collect and use personal data without the need to comply with the other provisions of the Act, on the basis that it is collected with a view to the publication of journalistic material and is in the public interest. 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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