Irish Times calls for data breach disclosure law
The editorial in today’s Irish Times has joined the calls (by ourselves and others) for laws which will ensure that Irish citizens are warned when their personal information has been compromised. IF ANY doubts remained about the urgent need for a national data disclosure law, …
Laptop loss – where’s the accountability?
From the Irish Independent: STAFF at the State spending watchdog who failed to inform authorities that laptops stolen from them contained sensitive information about up to 400,000 people are to escape disciplinary action. The Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (OCAG) last night confirmed …
Even more lessons from laptop loss
We’ve written before about laptops going missing containing confidential personal information. Then it was 31,000 Bank of Ireland customers who had to worry whether they could be the victims of fraud. This time it’s 380,000 social welfare recipients whose details might be compromised – with …
“Do you know where you this time last week? You may not, but the State certainly does.”
Fergal Crehan wrote a short and very clear piece for the Irish Daily Mail last month on data retention. It’s not available online, so here’s the full text: Do you know where you this time last week? You may not, but the State certainly does. …
Irish Human Rights Commission given permission to appear in DRI action
Good news from the High Court, where Mr. Justice McKechnie has given the Irish Human Rights Commission permission to appear as an amicus curiae in our challenge to data retention laws. From the Commission’s website: “This case raises important issues about the extent to which …
Liberty v. UK: European Court of Human Rights finds mass surveillance system violates the right to privacy
In the appropriately named Liberty v. The United Kingdom the European Court of Human Rights has held that a system of mass surveillance operated by the UK government to spy on all telephone calls, faxes and emails to and from Ireland was in breach of …
Avoiding Bluetooth Spam
You might have noticed a story in today’s Irish Independent about the increased use of “mobile marketing via bluetooth”. Paring away the advertising speak, this is simply Bluetooth spam – an unsolicited message sent to your mobile. Email and SMS spam is prohibited by Irish …
Data retention – the UK experience
We were sold data retention on the promise that it would be used to deal with terrorism and serious crime. Now the government is trying to water down that promise by redefining serious crime to include very minor offences. Recent news from the UK shows …
Irish Times opinion piece on data retention
The Irish Times published an opinion piece today from us on data retention. A subscription is required to read it at that link, so here’s the full text: Violations only made worse by new plans for data retention The Government is planning an alarming expansion …
Lessons from Laptop Loss – the Bank of Ireland case and Mandatory Reporting of Data Loss
You might have noticed that 10,000 Bank of Ireland customers have had their personal information put at risk after four bank laptops were stolen between June and October 2007. According to the Independent, the laptops “were being used by staff working for Bank of Ireland’s …
German Constitutional Court restricts data retention
The German Constitutional Court has, in an interim ruling (German only), restricted the use of data retention pending a full trial to decide on the constitutionality of the law. The German law is being challenged in an action coordinated by the civil rights group Arbeitskreis …
Transport policy and protecting privacy
The Department of Transport recently launched a public consultation on Sustainable Travel and Transport. Among the options considered in their consultation document are road pricing, tolling and congestion charging. All of these require that some system be put in place to monitor where and when …
