Category: Data Protection

Successive UK Governments have seen data protection more as a cost overhead to be minimised rather than as an essential protection for the individual in an electronic age. This view started with Mrs Thatcher’s first Government and has endured for over three decades. During the 1970s, there were a number of White Papers and Reports starting with the Younger Report on Privacy (in 1972) and ending with the Lindop’s Report on Data Protection (December 1978). So when Mrs Thatcher came

Buried in three of the 250,000 diplomatic cables published two years ago by Wikileaks was an obscure reference to a curious purchase made by Google from the Pentagon. These cables record that Google has contracted to buy all surplus surveillance drones as the USA military withdraws from Afghanistan and Iraq. These drones have been used to develop Google’s controversial StreetView service. Google’s idea is to have a drone electronically follow each StreetView CCTV camera car at a height of 50

I am going to make a simple prediction; within 19 months  Local Authorities will be subject to compulsory data protection audit. Why do I think that? Well I  think it is obvious if one reads the MoJ’s consultation document that argues that the ICO should have the power to audit NHS data controllers on demand. For instance, if you consider a “complaint” to the ICO as a possible data protection compliance issue, then the following Table shows that Local Government

Last week, Home Secretary Theresa May made a speech that could fundamentally alter the Conservative Party’s approach to human rights. The Party's currently policy position is that it would like to replace the Human Rights Act 1998 with its own Bill or Rights, but it would not derogate from the European Convention of Human Rights. Theresa May has put that all in doubt. In her speech, she said: “…And we need to stop human rights legislation interfering with our ability to