Hawktalk

The “Seven deadly privacy sins” associated with the DPDI No.2 Bill

The blog provides a summary of seven areas where the proposed Data Protection and Digital Information No. 2 Bill (“No.2 Bill”) undermines privacy issues; these should be debated by Parliament. Some area, such as ICO independence and research, are left unexplored in this Blog. 1.   Absence of Keeling Schedules It is difficult to comment on legislation that significantly modifies existing legislation if the relevant Keeling Schedules, which detail the proposed legislative changes, are unavailable (perhaps deliberately so).  The No.2 Bill

Read article

Facial recognition CCTV excluded from new data protection law by definition of “personal data”

I have come to the conclusion that the new definition of personal data in the Data Protection and Digital Information No.2 Bill (“No.2 Bill”) only applies to facial recognition CCTV if the data subject is on a watch-list. If the individual is not on a watch-list, and the camera images are deleted immediately after checking the watch-list, then personal data are not processed and there are no data protection obligations (e.g. no transparency) It then follows that if the watch-list,

Read article

Definition of “personal data” in DPDI No 2 Bill results in non-compliance with CoE Convention No.108

The press release associated with the DPDI No.2 Bill proudly states that the Bill ensures “that the new regime [is] built on the UK’s high standards for data protection and privacy”. These new “high standards”, evidently, includes adopting a definition of “personal data” that fails to meet the data protection standards established by the text of the Council of Europe (CoE) Convention No. 108, as published in January 1981. In other words, the most enduring international binding agreement on data

Read article

New DPDI Bill savings inflated by 324%; loss of Adequacy Agreement would cost UK over £2 billion

Many commentators have remarked how very similar the Data Protection and Digital Information (DPDI) (No.2) Bill is to the original DPDI Bill published last June.  If this is the case, how is it that the No.2 Bill’s projected “Best Estimate” savings is £4.7 billion over a decade, whereas the “Best Estimate” savings for the original DPDI Bill (the “No.1 Bill”) is a mere £1.45 billion over a decade? Given the fact that there is no official comparison document, explanation or

Read article

DPDI No 2 Bill should be paused until the UK Bill of Rights position is resolved

The new Data Protection and Digital Information (No 2) Bill (“No.2 Bill”) has been published, minus any Keeling Schedule, and minus any indication of how the new Bill has diverged from the old.  The Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) has this information to hand; its failure to publish it performs an unnecessary public disservice. The press release accompanying the No.2 Bill says the legislation has been “Co-designed with business from the start, this new Bill ensures that a

Read article

Government’s digital identity proposals ignore obvious privacy concerns

There is an adage (disputed by Transport for London) that if one waits at a bus-stop for more than half an hour, three or four buses will then turn up, almost in a convoy.  Curiously, this adage appears to apply to the management of digital identity. There are four recent proposals recent proposals relating to ID which have overlapped. They are: the parts of the legislation in the dormant Data Protection and Digital Information (DPDI) Bill that relates to digital

Read article
Search Hawktalk blogs by month :
Select Date
View blogs by category:
Hawktalk Taxonomy
Upcoming courses:
13 April – 17 April 2026
6 July – 10 July 2026
24 March – 26 March 2026
15 June – 17 June 2026

Workshop: Thursday 20 Nov

Cartoon: