Author: info@amberhawk.com

“How to write a suicidal job application?” or “How not to become a member of the Information Commission”

Last June, I applied to become a Non-Executive Member of the new Information Commission; there were seven places up for grabs.  My application has been turned down without an interview – so clearly I am NBG as far as HMG is concerned. I knew that my application was unlikely to be successful, but just in case I made the cut, my application was based on the following observations made in my application: The Open Rights Group letter Anyway, I thought

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EDPB complains that Commission’s draft Decision which concludes the UK’s DP regime is Adequate, is inadequate

In my previous blogs (August 12 and 17), I showed that the Commission’s analysis of the Draft Adequacy Agreement/Decision covering the Data (Use and Access) Act (DUAA) was both deficient and superficial. Well the European Data Protection Board’s (EDPB) analysis of the Commission’s Draft Agreement has come to the same conclusion (see references). Of course, the EDPB uses far more polite language than in my blog (i.e. it’s not as rude).  It cushions its criticism in gentle words like: “inviting

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Facial Recognition CCTV: Human Rights Commission action exposes ICO inaction

How embarrassing! The UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is joining a judicial review (JR) to ensure the Metropolitan Police’s current use of live facial recognition technology (FRT) complies with human rights law. Ten days earlier, our laissez-faire ICO issued the blandest of non-statements (13 August 2025) concerning the Police use of FRT:  “When used by the police, FRT must be deployed in a way that respects people’s rights and freedoms, with appropriate safeguards in place”. What these appropriate

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Commission’s Draft Adequacy Agreement contains erroneous analysis of UK’s Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 – Part 2

This blog is the continuation from Part 1 published last Tuesday.  In summary, the draft Adequacy Agreement (“the Agreement”) published by the Commission does not accurately describe the UK’s Data Protection regime and the impact of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (“DUAA”). This blog explores the error surrounding: Research International Transfers National Security- In Part 1 of the analysis, the blog considered errors relating to: Annex 1 – lawful basis Special category of personal data Annex 2 – incompatibility

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Commission’s Draft Adequacy Agreement contains an erroneous analysis of UK’s Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 – Part 1

The draft Adequacy Agreement (the “Agreement”) published by the European Commission last month contains seven basic errors of analysis which calls into question whether the Agreement accurately reflects the current state of UK data protection law.  This is important because the European Parliament is likely to OK this Agreement on the back of a very deficient analysis. This blog (and the next one) explores the main errors.  In summary, these errors involve: Annex 1 – lawful basis Special category of personal

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DUAB degrades the Purpose Limitation Principle below the DP standards set 45 years ago

I have just realised that the Data (Access and Use) Bill (DAUB), which returns for its Commons Report stage today,  degrades two Data Protection Principles in Article 5 of the UK_GDPR; namely the Principles dealing with lawfulness and incompatibility [A.5(1)(a) and A.5(1)(b)]. Indeed, the revised wording of the Purpose Limitation Principle [A.5(1)(b)] does not meet the requirements set 45 years ago in the Council of Europe Convention No 108, in 1981.  This blog goes into this new wording in detail.

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Data Bill’s problems exposed as Government rush DUAB through Parliament – Part 2

This is the second instalment of my list of nineteen areas where the Data Use and Access Bill (DUAB) provisions act to the detriment of data subjects. In Part 1 (blog of 25 Feb 2025), I listed a summary of the issues that would cause problems with renewing the Adequacy Agreement with the European Commission. This blog gives more details of the problems associated with the regulator (the ICO and the replacement Information Commission). The summary points concerning DUAB are:

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Data Bill’s problems exposed as Government rush DUAB through Parliament – Part 1

The following is a summary list of nineteen Data Use and Access Bill (DUAB) provisions which act to the detriment of data subjects. Because of its length, I have split these issues in two blogs.  Part 2 of this set will be published on Thursday. All these issues have been raised in my evidence to the Public Bill Committee which is considering DUAB;  you can access this evidence (see references).  The Committee stages start on Tuesday  March 4, and are

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Data Bill legislates for expansive degradation of data subject protection

The Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer have gone "all in" with Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the expectation that it generates economic growth.  It has told the main UK Regulators, including the ICO, to ease-off on general enforcement if such enforcement creates a serious risk to that growth. To ensure Regulators fall obediently in line, the chair of UK's competition Regulator was removed by the government in late January, to be replaced by someone more “amenable” to the

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