GDPR

It’s now one year since the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) were introduced alongside the Data Protection Act 2018. However, how has GDPR actually impacted us since then? Last year “Are you GDPR compliant?” was a question that brought about both fear and apathy in equal amounts, and the day it came into force (Friday […]

GDPR and the Data Protection Act came into force in May 2018.  There was some sense of foreboding as we built up to the introduction, there was no transition period just a new and extensive set of rules and regulations to replace and update the Data Protection Act 1998.  The legislation is not a one […]

The Marriott Hotel chain announced on Friday 30 November 2018 that information contained in its Starwood brands guest reservation database was compromised. Unauthorised access occurred in connection with reservations at Starwood properties on or before 10 September 2018, potentially dating back to 2014. Marriott received an alert from a security tool on 8 September 2018 […]

Last weekend news broke of a data breach at the Conservative Party conference via an app, prompting predictions of an embarrassing GDPR fine for the party currently in power. The limelight for this data breach was wholly stolen by Facebook who revealed news of the largest ever data breach in the history of its company […]

The Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) has announced that Facebook is to be fined £500,000 for its part in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The ICO concluded that Facebook failed to safeguard its users’ information and be transparent about how such data was harvested by others. The Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said: “Facebook has failed to provide the kind […]

Dixons Carphone (DC) is investigating a hacking attempt which involved almost six million credit and debit cards and over a million customer data records. The incident could be the first significant data breach to be investigated by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. […]

Last week, an individual won his legal action against Google in connection with what is known as the “right to be forgotten” in a UK High Court case. The right to be forgotten (also referred to as the right to erasure) is a precedent set by the Court of Justice of the European Union in […]

After a lengthy battle with the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (FGCO) regarding Facebook’s data protection policies, the Berlin Regional Court (BRC) has found that Facebook’s use of its users’ data was illegal. Facebook had failed to obtain consent to use personal data for their advertising purposes, according to the BRC. The social media giant’s failure to […]

I first heard about a company called Cambridge Analytica in January 2017. Having an interest in data protection matters due to the nature of my work, I was actually fascinated by a company that claimed it could assist political campaigns to produce highly precise targeted Facebook ads and that their services were employed by both […]

Data is increasingly becoming the most valuable commodity for businesses and as such, one of the most protected. Considering the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is an update to the Data Protection Act which first came into force in 1998, when one gigabyte of data cost one thousand times what it does today, the new […]