Category: News

A blog reader asked me to look at the Code of Practice on the acceptable use of body scanners to enhance security at UK airports. The consultation period associated with the Code ended four weeks ago, so I apologise for a severe case of “better late than never”. In summary, the Code still ignores several key issues. However, to be fair to the incoming Coalition Government, the consultation had been commenced in the dying days of the previous administration. It

The European Commission will no doubt expect plaudits for its request to the UK Government to change the Data Protection Act so that it meets the standard established by the Directive 95/46/EC. In practice, the Commission should answer questions as to why it has taken over seven years to reach a conclusion which has been obvious to data protection experts from the time of the Durant decision back in December 2003. Since that time, the Commission has stood on the

The European Union has redrafted its agreement with the USA Treasury in order to require Europe’s financial institutions to transfer details of global financial transactions to the USA. The revised Draft Agreement is to be put to the European Parliament in July for approval, despite a text containing significant privacy defects and obvious areas of drafting in need of urgent attention. The Draft Agreement often refers to “terrorism or terrorist financing” without defining what “terrorism” is, or what makes a

Ah! The reality of power! For all the Opposition talk about strengthening the protection of privacy, in the first weeks of Government, the pro-privacy proposition has become more difficult to implement. The inevitable result is that gears are being put into neutral or reverse (as quietly as possible, mind you!). So it is with the repeal of the ID Card Act and the abolition of the National Identity Register by the “Identity Documents Bill 2010-11” whose Second Reading is today.

A well respected privacy commentator has made a wise remark. He said of Nick Clegg’s speech as enthusiastically reported yesterday: “I'll wait to see the fine print”. Well, in my experience this cautious approach is well justified. Back in 1990s, when I was perhaps a bit more “active” than I am now, I used to brief several opposition Labour MPs on data protection issues. In opposition, there was no difficulty in raising problems in connection with data protection; however, as