Last month the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources published the Government’s National Cyber Security Strategy 2015-2017 (the Strategy).

In 2013 the World Economic Forum classified cyber related threats as one of the highest of all global risks from the perspective of impact and likelihood. This assessment was echoed at a national level in the Government’s 2014 National Risk Assessment. The development and proliferation of Information and Communications technology (ICT) has transformed the way in which society operates. There are few sectors of both society and the economy which do not rely on some form of ICT for their continued operation. This increased dependence has led to increased risk with threats such as hacking, cyber-crime, hacktivism, cyber espionage, software failures and even human error posing a direct threat not only to the daily lives of Irish citizens but also to the economy and the State. Continue Reading Government publishes National Cyber Security Strategy

The High Court has refused an application by the Irish Times for injunctions restraining the Times of London from using the words "The Times Irish Edition" in its forthcoming digital Irish edition of the newspaper. The new digital publication will be sold as a part of a subscription package with the Sunday Times and will be solely available digitally. The Irish Times had sought an injunction preventing Times Newspapers Limited (TNL) from using the "The Times Irish Edition" or any other title which may be confusingly similar to The Irish Times. TNL denied that the phrase would create any confusion due to the co-existence of the two publications in Ireland for 150 years as well as the fact that it was common knowledge that they intended to launch an Irish edition. Continue Reading High Court refuses injunction over Irish edition of the UK Times

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has upheld its first instance decision in Delfi A.S. v Estonia (16 June 2015). It held that an online news portal operator (Delfi) was responsible for comments posted about an online article by one of its readers (see our legal update on the first instance decision here).Continue Reading ECHR upholds liability of online news service for its readers’ defamatory comments

On 15 June 2015, the European Council of Ministers reached agreement on its version of the draft Data Protection Regulation .  Trilogue negotiations between the Council, the European Parliament and the EU Commission will start next week on 24 June, witht he aim of reaching a final agreement by the end of 2015.Continue Reading Council of Ministers reaches agreement on proposed Data Protection Regulation

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or Drones, as they are more commonly known, have traditionally been regarded as a military tool, frequently featuring in media reports on US military action as well as TV dramas such as ‘Homeland’ and ‘House of Cards’. They are however, being increasingly put to a much broader spectrum of uses.

Drones have been used by humanitarian organisations to deliver food and medical supplies to crisis-stricken areas. Following typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, drones were used by international relief agency Medair to map terrain and create a detailed system of 3D aerial images of the region to make relief efforts more efficient. Amazon’s Prime Air development project has also garnered a lot of attention for its goal to use drones to deliver goods to customers in 30 minutes or less. Drones are also now available to buy in electronics stores and are used to capture videos and photographs by amateur and professional photographers. Continue Reading Drone Regulation Takes Flight