19 June 2014
Should we follow the Scots by having a written constitution?
The words were coy, but there was no mistaking their meaning. The SNP’s proposals, published in February, for a new, post-independence, constitution involved “embedding” the rights of its citizens by ensuring that they could not be taken away by the Scottish Parliament. So, having taken advantage of our constitution to secure independence by a majority vote of the Westminster Parliament, the SNP proposed to remove that right from its own people.
This article was first published in The Times on the 19th June 2014.
23 May 2014
eBay and the biggest hack in history - what can the Information Commissioner do now?
eBay has been the victim of what has been described as the “biggest ever cyber-attack in history” with 233 million customers worldwide being potentially affected. Although customers’ passwords remain safely encrypted, personal information including names, addresses and dates of birth have been hacked. In the wake of this news, it has been confirmed that the Information Commissioner is working with European data authorities to take action against eBay, alongside the various investigations already underway in the US.
9 October 2013
Search warrants and non-disclosure: will the new Criminal Procedure Rules raise standards?
The Criminal Procedure Rules 2013, which came into force on 7 October 2013 include, for the first time, provisions governing applications made by the police, and other law enforcement agencies, for search warrants. To anyone practising in this area, the need for a clear set of rules, as a means of trying to ensure full compliance with the legal requirements for obtaining warrants, has been clear for a long time – the more interesting issue is how far in reality the new provisions are likely go in achieving that aim.
16 September 2013
Judicial Review Reforms – a collision course with the judges?
The Ministry of Justice has recently published a further consultation paper on judicial review “reform”, proposing a wide range of measures to supplement those introduced in the wake of the consultation published at the end of last year.
4 September 2013
Compulsory data protection audits: Opening Pandora’s box?
Earlier this year, the Information Commissioner repeated his call for compulsory data protection audits of councils and NHS Trusts in response to what he referred to as “really stupid basic errors”. Sophie Kemp discusses.
