data protection

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The Data Protection Commissioner, Helen Dixon, spoke at the Society for Computers and Law’s ‘The Evolution and Reform of Data Protection’ event this morning. The Commissioner gave an overview of the activities of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) in 2014 and set out the aims of the ODPC for the year ahead.Continue Reading Data Protection Commissioner reviews 2014 and sets out plans for 2015

There has been much debate during 2014 about the effectiveness of the US Safe Harbour regime. Many EU commentators have queried its effectiveness, pointing in particular to the lack of enforcement over the years by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the body which effectively is charged with dealing with complaints that companies are not in compliance with their public representations of adherence to the Safe Harbour principles.
Continue Reading SnapChat Signs Up to 20 Years of Data Protection Audits

On November 23rd, Symantec, the American antivirus company, announced the discovery of a piece of software called Regin, which it had found lurking on computers and stealing data in Ireland, Russia, Saudi Arabia and several other countries. Its sophistication and stealth led Symantec to conclude that it must have been created by a nation-state.

The Regin software appears to have been lurking on some computer systems from as long ago as 2008 and Symantec said it was unusually low-key, meaning it could be used on a target for several years before being noticed. Symantec have described the purpose of Regin…

Continue Reading Regin – State Sponsored Hacking

According to a survey recently published by Microsoft, a large proportion of Irish people think that online privacy is important and that people should not need to give up privacy and freedom for safety from crime and terrorism.

The survey published by Microsoft, and carried out by Amárach Consulting, focused on Irish peoples’ attitudes toward online and digital data privacy and security. Microsoft commissioned the survey as part of its on-going legal challenge to a US warrant which compels Microsoft to produce data held in a Microsoft data centre in Dublin. Continue Reading How important is online privacy?

In Atkinson v Community Gateway Association UKEAT/0457/12, the UK EAT held that accessing an employee’s emails, in the course of a disciplinary investigation into the employee’s conduct, did not amount to an unjustified interference with the employee’s private life. The employee did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy, in circumstances where he had sent emails from his work account in breach of the email policy, which he himself had drafted, and was responsible for enforcing. In addition, the emails were not marked “personal/private”.Continue Reading Tribunal rules employee did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in regard to his work emails

The CJEU in Joined Cases C-141/12 and C-372/12 has clarified the scope of a data subject’s right of access to a copy of their personal data. The CJEU’s ruling may serve to lighten the burden of access requests on organisations. It confirms that the Data Protection Directive 1995 (the Directive) does not establish a right of access to any specific document or file in which personal data are listed or used, nor does it specify the material form in which personal data must be made accessible. Member States enjoy a margin of discretion to determine the form in which to make personal data accessible, so long as it is intelligible. Accordingly, the CJEU found that the Dutch authorities, in this case, had met their legal obligations under data protection law by extracting from the relevant documents the personal data relating to the data subject.Continue Reading CJEU clarifies scope of right of access to personal data

The CJEU in Joined Cases C-141/12 and C-372/12 has clarified the scope of a data subject’s right of access to a copy of their personal data.  The CJEU’s ruling may serve to lighten the burden of access requests on organisations. It confirms that the Data Protection Directive 1995 (the Directive) does not establish a right of access to any specific document or file in which personal data are listed or used, nor does it specify the material form in which personal data must be made accessible.  Member States enjoy a margin of discretion to determine the form in which to make personal data accessible, so long as it is intelligible. Accordingly, the CJEU found that the Dutch authorities, in this case, had met their legal obligations under data protection law by extracting from the relevant documents the personal data relating to the data subject.Continue Reading CJEU clarifies scope of right of access to personal data

Following the recent Court of Justice decision in the Costeja case, Google launched a service last Friday that will allow European data subjects to request the removal of search results for queries that include their name where those results are "inadequate, irrelevant, or no longer relevant, or excessive in relation to the purpose for which they were processed". The request form is available online.Continue Reading Google launches new European privacy removal tool

The European Parliament has passed a resolution in response to the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance scandal.  The resolution calls for the suspension of the U.S. – EU Safe Harbour Framework immediately, unless the U.S. satisfies the concerns of the EU Parliament.  

However, the Parliament’s resolution does not affect the validity of the Safe Harbour Framework. Only the Commission can renegotiate the Safe Harbour Framework. Last year, the Commission issued 13 recommendations to improve the functioning of the Safe Harbour scheme, and called upon U.S. authorities to remedy these issues by summer 2014 (see …

Continue Reading Calls for Suspension of Safe Harbour