YouTube videos and data protection liabilities

To what extent is an individual potentially on the hook, in terms of data protection liabilities, for material they post on their personal social media accounts, such as video clips on YouTube? The CJEU’s ruling in Sergejs Buivids (Case C–345/17) is the most recent addition to the line of authorities about the intersection between personal use of online networks, potential journalistic purposes and data protection duties. Continue reading

Law Enforcement Processing and the Scope of EU Law: Easy-Peasy Right?

If you think you understand how the DPA 2018 has implemented EU law in the shape of the GDPR (Part 1) and the Law Enforcement Directive (“LED”) (Part 3), and that is that, you may want to think again. What the DPA does not just depend on the language and the Part, but may also require consideration of the scope of EU law. R (El Gizouli) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] EWHC 60 (Admin) is such a case. Indeed, it is the first decided case of significance to consider the DPA 2018 at all. Continue reading

Confidentiality

Two recent decisions of the FTT on confidential information are of interest, one under FoIA, the other under the EIR, with a local authority being the public authority in both cases.

The FoIA case is Driver v Information Commissioner and Thanet District Council, EA/2017/0218.  It concerned the absolute Section 41 exemption from disclosure: information provided in confidence to the public authority by a third party.  The FTT held that the exemption did not apply because the information was not obtained by  the Council from another person. The information was the names of parties who had been paid compensation by the Council.  This was pursuant to settlements concluded between the Council and businesses involved in the export of live animals from the Port at Ramsgate.  The Council had imposed a ban. The High Court found that the ban was unlawful and that the Council was liable in damages. Continue reading