The case of R v Bridges [2020] EWCA Civ 1058 continues in the Court of Appeal with the finding of the Divisional Court being challenged on five grounds as set out below.
Continue readingEnglish Law
Parts of Meghan Markle’s claim against Associated Newspapers struck out following preliminary hearing
Citation: BBC: The preliminary hearing of Meghan Markle’s privacy case against the Associated Newspapers
Meghan Markle’s claim against Associated Newspapers regarding the publication of a letter she wrote to her father has had its preliminary hearing on 24 April 2020, as reported by the BBC. Continue reading
Privacy protection in practice: The coronavirus and healthcare data
TTP extends its best wishes to all those impacted by the coronavirus and hopes that all are safe and well. For those readers based in the UK the NHS coronavirus guidance can be found here and Government guidance here. Stay home, stay safe. Continue reading
Morrisions data breach vicarious liability case before UK Supreme Court
Following its data breach in November 2013 the Morrisons data breach case is now before the UK Supreme Court. The breach involved the personal data of 5,500 employees.
An employee, Mr Skelton, took a memory stick containing the records of employees home. In January 2014 he uploaded the contents onto a data sharing website, later sending it to newspapers. Continue reading
Compound liability following data breaches – Equifax two years on
In September 2017 Equifax suffered a data breach exposing the personal data of over 147 million people. Hackers utilised a website application vulnerability to access the personal data of customers. Continue reading
£3billion class action against Google given the go-ahead – Lloyd v Google LLC [2019] EWCA Civ 1599
Mr Lloyd, a consumer protection advocate, brought a claim against Google for damages on behalf of 4m Apple iPhone users. It was alleged that Google secretly tracked some of their internet activity for commercial purposes between 9 August 2011 and 15 February 2012. Continue reading
The end of the kiss and tell story? – PJS v News Group Newspapers Ltd [2016] UKSC 26
The case of PJS concerned an application for an interlocutory injunction. PJS was well known in the entertainment business and married to YMA, who was similarly well known. They had young children. In 2007 or 2008 PJS met AB and had occasional sexual encounters with them despite AB having a partner, CD. In December 2011 PJS had a three-way sexual encounter with AB and CD following which the sexual relationship with PJS and AB came to an end.
Ben Stokes and Gareth Thomas in the press – Protecting privacy in the spotlight
Many will have heard of the Sun’s recent egregious intrusion into the private and family life of cricketer Ben Stokes. The offending article by the Sun delves into the family life of the famous cricketer in a manner which could be seen to breach the privacy rights of Stokes and his family.
The incident has placed the conduct of English journalists, particularly the Sun, under the spotlight. INFORRM has an excellent post on the issue.
Stokes statement on the article, released on Twitter, can be found here.
Many will also be aware of the exposing of rugby player Gareth Thomas’ HIV status following black mail attempts. This move is highly invasive and could be considered a misuse of private information.
The Independent Press Standards Organisation has commented on the incidents. This notes how the Editor’s Code operates to protect individuals in such scenarios and condemns the sensationalist headlines of articles intruding upon privacy rights.
Revisiting the right to be forgotten, the NT1 and NT2 case
The right to be forgotten or right to erasure under data protection legislation and enshrined from the Google Spain case allows significant protection of information regarding the individual. In this post, we consider the seminal case of NT1 and NT2 which is illustrative of this fact. Continue reading
The Privacy Perspective 