The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) wants people to support their elderly relatives or neighbours if they are receiving nuisance marketing calls. The appeal came as a company selling funeral plans was fined £80,000 for making unlawful marketing calls to people who had made it explicitly clear they didn’t want to receive them. The ICO launched an investigation after a national newspaper had reported allegations of illegal practices at a call centre at Handforth Dean in Wilmslow, Cheshire, run by a company which at the time was called Plan My Funeral…
Month: April 2019
Children’s privacy – new standards for online services will help protect children
15 April 2019 Today we’re setting out the standards expected of those responsible for designing, developing or providing online services likely to be accessed by children, when they process their personal data. Parents worry about a lot of things. Are their children eating too much sugar, getting enough exercise or doing well at school. Are they happy? In this digital age, they also worry about whether their children are protected online. You can log on to any news story, any day to see just how children are being affected by…
Blog: Data Protection law does not prevent information sharing to save lives and stop crime
12 April 2019 Steve Wood reminds public and private organisations that new data protection legislation does not stop them from disclosing personal data to assist police forces or other law enforcement authorities. It’s nearly eleven months since the UK’s new data protection legislation came into effect, giving organisations more responsibilities and giving citizens strengthened rights. In terms of data sharing the message is also one of continuity as the core considerations that existed under the previous legislation remain the same. We are aware that sometimes, organisations are hesitant to share…
ICO fines production company £120,000 for unlawful filming in maternity clinic
A television production company which unfairly and unlawfully filmed patients at a maternity clinic has been fined £120,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). True Visions Productions (TVP) of London set up CCTV-style cameras and microphones in examination rooms at the clinic at Addenbrooke’s Hospital Cambridge for a Channel 4 documentary on stillbirths. The walk-in clinic is for patients who have concerns about their pregnancy. The ICO investigation found that although TVP had the hospital trust’s permission to be on site, TVP did not provide patients with adequate information about…
ICO announces winner of Data Protection Officer of the Year awarded for Excellence in Data Protection
Recognising the increasingly vital role played by professionals working in the sector, the second ICO Practitioner Award for Excellence in Data Protection was presented to Mikko Niva, Group Policy Officer at Vodafone Group Services Ltd based in London. Chosen by an independent panel, Mr Niva has been recognised for delivering a pioneering global privacy compliance programme for Vodafone across 21 different countries, and for being a constant advocate for information and privacy rights. Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham and Margot James MP, Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries, presented the award…
Data Protection Practitioners’ Conference 2019
Good morning. Welcome to the DPPC, welcome to Manchester, and welcome to those joining via our livestream link. We’re proud that what is the biggest event of its type takes place right here in Manchester. As I quickly learned moving to this wonderful part of the UK, there’s a real sense of civic pride here. People are proud of the history of their region. Proud of being independent and ambitious. And proud they continue to make an impact, 200 miles north of the capital. I think those are all things…
Former NHS manager fined for sending personal data to her email account
A former GP practice manager has been fined for sending personal data to her own email account without authorisation, following an investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Shamim Sadiq worked at Hollybrook Medical Centre in Littleover, Derby, but was suspended on 3 November 2017 for unrelated matters and dismissed later that month. Derby Magistrates’ Court was told that at the time of the incident, Sadiq was also employed by the Care Quality Commission as a specialist adviser for practice management and so she still had access to her NHS…
Protecting the data rights of homeless people among new projects supported by the ICO Grants Programme
Projects supporting the privacy of homeless people and issues around the use of genomic information in healthcare are among the latest recipients of funding from the ICO Grants Programme. The successful applicants for the programme’s second round of grants also include research into data protection in ‘smart’ homes and the use of public sector data by researchers. The ICO Grants Programme was launched by the Information Commissioner’s Office in 2017 and aims to support independent, innovative research into practical products and solutions which benefit the UK public by tackling significant…
London council fined by the ICO for disclosing sensitive personal data about alleged gang members
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined the London Borough of Newham £145,000 for disclosing the personal information of more than 200 people who featured on a police intelligence database. The database is known as the ‘Gangs Matrix’ and its purpose is to record information in respect of alleged gang members. An ICO investigation found that on 26 January 2017, a Newham Council employee sent an email to 44 recipients that contained both redacted and unredacted versions of the Gangs Matrix. These had previously been sent to the council by…
Statement on Mark Zuckerberg opinion piece
In an opinion piece published on Saturday 30 March in The Washington Post, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg called for more regulation of the internet. He said there are four areas where more oversight is necessary: harmful content, election integrity, privacy and data portability. Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said today: “In light of Mark Zuckerberg’s statements over the weekend about the need for increased regulation across four areas, including privacy, I expect Facebook to review their current appeal against the ICO’s £500,000 fine – the maximum available under the old…