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Author: info@amberhawk.com

Data Protection: no new powers for the Commissioner in 2010?

19 October 2009 3 Comments

So the Government has finally published its consultation on whether or not there should be custodial sanctions relating to selling or offering to sell personal data that have been unlawfully obtained (i.e. without the consent of the data controller). At the moment, the offence under section 55 of the Data Protection Act 1998 is non-custodial with a £5,000 fine maximum. The Government is consulting on whether or not the maximum summary penalty at the Magistrates Court should be increased to

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Special Branch would have protected Elvis

16 October 2009 No Comments

Since it is a Friday, I raise a curiosity that relates to a FOI request to all information on John Lennon held by Special Branch. Naturally being Special Branch, the applicant no doubt received all that extra special loving care and attention we expect of such public authorities. The Branch told him that he could not get the requested details because of the application of exemptions relating to sections 23(5) (information supplied by or relating to national security bodies), S.24(2)

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Fax off. The PECR marketing privacy rules are different for e-mail

15 October 2009 2 Comments

So the Information Commissioner has taken enforcement action against Ivor Cox, trading as Orion Forklift and Plant, following breaches of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR). The action comes after more than 1700 complaints about the organisation were received by the Fax Preference Service (FPS) and by the ICO. The complainants were blessed with unsolicited marketing faxes about Ivor’s forklift trucks, sometimes in the early hours of the morning, even when the recipient was registered with the FPS. Given

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How a £750 printer could affect everybody’s privacy

14 October 2009 1 Comment

Yesterday’s Evening Standard, London’s newest free-sheet, published a story about “Police war on fake ID factories”. Evidently, a £750 printer from PC World is all one needs to produce convincing replicas of “the propose new ID Card and EU driving licence” as well as “passport entry stamps and national insurance cards”. According to the Standard, the police have initiated “Project Genesius” to stop these kinds of printers falling into the hands of criminal gangs. The development has implications for privacy

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Being a “General Identifier” is not a data protection safeguard.

13 October 2009 No Comments

As you know I love the ID Card; in fact I love the idea so much I think I will try and get two. However, today’s blog is inspired by my reading of the document “Identity Cards Act Secondary Legislation: a response to the Consultation”, published by the IPS in May 2009. Within a discussion about safeguards it says: “It has also been asked whether the National Identity Registration Number will be considered a 'general identifier' and accordingly an order

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Can the Scots Nats strengthen its Human Rights Commission?

12 October 2009 No Comments

  The political party conference season has ended and it is very clear there is little in the way of privacy policy emerging. The Tories have a policy document on the surveillance state (see blog – not coherent); the Lib Dems are deliberating what to do via a Privacy Commission (we have to wait for white smoke), and Labour offers the same as before. Only the Scottish Nationalists seem to be trying something new.   The Tories do promise a

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We can’t disclose because of the Human Rights Act

8 October 2009 2 Comments

It used to be the Data Protection Act, but now it appears that the Human Rights Act has caught the disease described by the statement: “we can’t do anything because of the Human Rights Act”. Dominic Grieve, Shadow Minister of Justice, has just contracted the infection. He said yesterday at the Conservative Party Conference: “How many times have we seen police or probation officers say they can’t disclose the identity of a criminal because of his privacy under the Human

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What lies beneath the extradition of hacker Gary McKinnon to the USA

7 October 2009 No Comments

Should extradition arrangements between the USA and the UK, established in connection with counter-terrorism and serious crime, be used against Mr Gary McKinnon who suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome? Asperger’s is a disability on the higher functioning end of the Autistic spectrum, and I must declare a special interest, as a close family member has it. Mr McKinnon is a computer hacker who admits he broke into various USA defence systems in an attempt to find out about “UFOs, free energy

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Can national security agencies disclose communications data or ANPR images to anybody?

6 October 2009 1 Comment

Idly browsing through the National Security (Information Tribunal) web-site (as one does when one has spare time to kill), I noticed that a new appeal involving Privacy International (PI) has been posted.  Evidently the privacy pressure group was raising questions about the National Security Certificate that allows for the real-time transmission of ANPR images of cars entering London’s Congestion Charge to the national security agencies. PI’s appeal fell at the first hurdle because it was an organisation and not a

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