Notwithstanding the representations of the PCC and others the proposal to toughen the sanctions for infringing the DPA were endorsed by the DCMS Committee, which stated that ‘we believe that sufficient safeguards exist to protect legitimate investigative journalism and do not believe that the introduction of custodial sentences for offences under Section 55 of the Data Protection Act 1998 would have the chilling effect claimed by the press”. It also noted with approval the fact that the government had in February 2007 proposed to amend Section 60 of the DPA (via the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill which was then going through Parliament) so as to introduce exactly the sanction recommended by the ICO. Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Tag: Data Protection (Page 2 of 2)
Intimidated by the press, disappointed by the PCC and thwarted by the courts, the ICO decided to go public about data theft, in May 2006 publishing the report What Price Privacy? which discussed Motorman, inter alia. It also raised the question of the inadequacy of the penalties for breaking the DPA: Continue reading
In March 2003, investigators from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), raided the offices of a private detective, Steve Whittamore. As Tom Watson and Martin Hickman put it: “They were amazed at what they discovered: Britain’s best-selling newspapers and magazines were driving a thriving black market in illegal data, requesting (and receiving) ex-directory numbers, car registration numbers, health records and criminal records. The targets ranged from glamorous actresses such as Elizabeth Hurley to the families of victims of newsworthy crimes, such as the parents of Holly Wells, a child murdered by the paedophile Ian Huntley at Soham, Cambridgeshire, in 2002. (28-9). Continue reading
In a recent post on Inforrm it was suggested that the recent notorious prank phone call from two Australian DJs to the King Edward VII Hospital where they blagged private information about the Duchess of Cambridge and which had such tragic consequences, constituted an offence under section 55 of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the “DPA”). Continue reading
The hoax telephone call to the King Edward VII Hospital in which two DJ’s blagged private information about the Duchess of Cambridge has become the main item on the news today after the apparent suicide of the nurse who was duped by the call. The Australian radio station, 2Day FM, whose DJs were responsible for the call told the “Daily Telegraph” that “it had not broken any laws“. But, as pointed out by Dr Chris Pounder on the Hawktalk blog the position under the Data Protection Act 1998 (“DPA”) has not been considered. Continue reading
Have you followed all the hand wringing by Government about the statutory underpinning of the Leveson Principles? Have you seen the press coverage equating statutory underpinning with state control? Evidently the Government say there are pages and pages of legislation to draft in order to underpin, in law, an independent self-regulatory body for the Press. So in the spirit of “Jamie’s 15 Minute Meals” here is a statutory underpinning of the Leveson Principles in 133 words of law. Continue reading
The Prime Minister, David Cameron, has expressed “serious concerns and misgivings” over bringing in laws to underpin any new body to regulate the press. Mr Cameron told MPs that legislation backing a regulatory body underpinned by statute would “cross the Rubicon” by writing elements of press regulation into the law for the “first time“. Because of this, Mr Cameron, is “not convinced at this stage that statute is necessary to achieve Lord Justice Leveson’s objectives”. Continue reading
The Data Protection Act 1998 is increasingly being deployed as part of a claimant’s arsenal in defamation claims. The Information Commissioner has historically resisted policing DPA breaches in the context of allegedly defamatory expressions of opinion by one person about another. Continue reading
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