The report issued by the DP Commissioner’s office earlier this week, following their audit of privacy policies and practices in Facebook, was something of a damp squib. Many clients with whom I have spoken over the past few weeks, particularly those who acquire and hold client data via their online ‘presence’, were eagerly awaiting the ...
Over on my personal blog I’ve written a short piece about my thoughts re: the Facebook Audit by the DPC. All in all I welcome the findings (and at 40 or so discrete findings it is not a clean bill of health by any stretch of the imagination regardless of spin and positioning) but feel ...
Earlier this month we saw the leaking of a late draft of the forthcoming EU Data Protection Regulation. Yes. That’s right. Regulation. In other words direct effect, standardised legal framework across Europe, less wriggle room at local level, and no waffling and stalling by national parliaments as they butcher a Directive into national law. The ...
Over the past few days there has been renewed focus on how Facebook (and by extension Google and Google Plus) track the browsing habits and activities of both registered and non-registered users using, in Facebook’s case, the “Like” button. Basically, whether you are registered on Facebook or not, clicking on the “Like” button on a ...
The Tallaght Hospital story is a salutatory tale of what can go wrong when engaging third parties to perform any service for your organisation. Left to their own devices and absent any control or governance framework that can verify that what is to be done has been done (in its entirety) and has been done ...
The recent headlines in relation to phone hacking serve as a timely reminder that while a lot of privacy obligations rest with the organisations which process our data, we are individually responsible for upholding our privacy rights. In the introduction to his report into Privacy and the Media in 1990, Sir David Calcutt QC defined ...
The Data Protection Commissioner has issued a clarification of their position in relation to remote access to Voice mail and mobile phone operators… To clarify our communication to the mobile operators we suggested that the remote access feature be offered on an opt-in basis. We did not seek removal of the service as we are ...
Over the weekend, the Data Protection Commissioner announced that they were considering asking mobile phone companies to suspend the ability of mobile phone subscribers to access their voicemail remotely by dialling in to it from other phones. [clarification: the DPC has issued a clarification to this which we have detailed in this subsequent post] This ...
“The Data Protection Commissioner Billy Hawkes has today warned consumers about scam text messages being sent to people asking for information. The text messages purport to be from the Data Protection Commissioner and ask members of the public to call a particular telephone number and leave their name, address and PPSN number. The commissioner said ...
So, the revised e-Privacy Directive has been given legal effect as of 1st July (only a little over a month late). The Data Protection Commissioner has issued revised guidance on the processing of personal data in the context of electronic communications. Some of what is contained in this legislation is new. However, even the new ...