NIPC Law

Standard YouTube Licence Jane Lambert The reaction of Brenda from Bristol to Mrs May's announcement of a snap election earlier this year made her an internet star.   There was a similar reaction to the government's introduction of a new Data Protection Bill last week and one can understand why.  Three statutes, one Council regulation and a directive in a little over 30 years for the processing of personal data is quite a lot of legislation - especially for an activity that the United States leaves largely unregulated. The Younger Report  Towards the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s, concern was expressed in a number of countries about the power of computers to gather, collate and disseminate personal information. In the UK, such concerns were referred to a committee chaired by Sir Kenneth Younger  that had been appointed to consider privacy.  In its report - the Younger Committee Report on Privacy 1972 (Cmnd 5012) - the committee found no...

First published on NIPC Case Law Update on 28 May 2005 The decision of the Court of Appeal in  Douglas and others v Hello! Ltd and others    [2005] EMLR 28, [2005] 3 WLR 881, [2005] HRLR 27, [2005] 4 All ER 128, [2005] EWCA Civ 595, [2006] QB 125, [2005] 2 FCR 487   to overturn damages of over £1 million that Mr. Justice Lindsey had ordered  Hello!  magazine to pay to   OK!   was announced on the Radio 4 news.  The importance of that judgment, however, was not the size of the award, the scale of the reverse or even the participation of two Hollywood stars. It was the Court’s recognition that art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights obliges governments not only to refrain from unwarranted intrusion into private lives but also to take positive steps to protect privacy. In view of the reluctance of this government and every predecessor since the Younger Report (Cmnd. 5012, HMSO,1972) to legislate on privacy, it was up to the courts to give effect to that obligation. The Convention...