Anyone remember Craven v Information Commissioner & DECC? The EIR vexatious request case heard with Dransfield? Court of Appeal decision back in mid-2015? Well, word reaches us at Panopticon that the Supreme Court has just issued an Order refusing Mrs Craven permission to appeal. Continue reading →

We have banged the drum on Panopticon to almost Phil Collins-like levels on theme of the growing utility of the Data Protection Act to media lawyers, but it would be foolish to pretend it can always produce an answer from nowhere in a traditional journalism context. The judgment in ZXC v Bloomberg LP [2017] EWHC 328 (QB) reminds us of that. Continue reading →

Remember how for years a data protection claim would be bunged on the end of a libel and/or privacy complaint, receiving little to no judicial or litigation attention, because it was seen as a boring tecchie subject few understood? Those days have been over for some time (as us DPA drum-bangers have been pointing out), and the Queen’s Bench Division now agrees. A new Media and Communications List has been created within the QBD, to be headed up by Warby J. Continue reading →

Hot off the presses comes the first of the Court of Appeal’s two forays into data protection law this term: Dawson-Damer v Tayor Wessing LLP [2017] EWCA Civ 74. It is an important decision and one well worth reading, particularly while waiting for round 2 (which has some overlaps) in Ittihadieh v 5-11 Cheyne Gardens / Deer v University of Oxford (likely to be handed down in the next month or so). Continue reading →

In amongst the exciting political developments in Northern Ireland of the last few days have been a positive parade of misuse of private information cases against online social media companies. I posted about the very interesting (yes it was) judgment of the Court of Appeal in CG v Facebook the other day, and now, hot on its heels, comes another: J20 v Facebook Ireland Ltd [2016] NIQB 98. This one is a less wide-ranging – and is a pure misuse of private information case rather than also having data protection points – but contains some further useful indications as to how the courts are approaching misuse in an e-Commerce world. Continue reading →

The “internet has not alone changed our lives but it has also changed our vocabulary. A tablet is no longer made of stone, a bit does not help guide a horse and a cookie is more likely to affect your privacy than alleviate the pangs of hunger between meals!” A lengthy Christmas cracker joke? No, the observations – in excellent ‘Dad-joke’ style – of the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal in CG v Facebook Ireland Ltd & McCloskey (MOR10142) (Morgan LCJ, Gillen & Weatherup LJJ) at [54]. Continue reading →