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Articles

Hints at ICO approach to AI

It’s interesting to see the (UK) ICO’s response to the (EU) consultation on an AI Act​​​​​​. The EU proposal won’t directly affect us, post-Brexit, but it seems reasonable to assume that where the ICO “supports the proposal”, we’ll see pretty similar policies here. Three of those seem directly relevant to education: That remote biometric identification […]

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Articles

ICO proposals on personal data exports

The ICO’s proposals for international transfers seem closer to the actual findings of the Schrems II case than the EDPB’s effective demand that processing of non-pseudonymised data be kept within Europe. However, as a risk-based scheme, it will require more work from both exporters and importers to demonstrate that transferring doesn’t create significantly greater risk […]

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Articles

Respectful systems: Not just for Children

The ICO’s Age Appropriate Design Code (more familiarly the “Children’s Code”) may have been written before lockdown, but it could provide useful guidance to everyone designing or implementing systems for the post-COVID world. We’re all trying to work out what a “hybrid” world should look like, whether in schools, colleges, universities, workplaces or social spaces. […]

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Articles

The Power of “No”

For the past twenty-five years I’ve tried to avoid saying “no”. Whether in website management, security or law, “have you thought of…?” seems much more fruitful. In the short term it lets us discuss alternatives, in the long term it encourages – or at least doesn’t discourage – the questioner to come back. So it […]

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Articles

Draft AI Regulation: thinking about risks

The European Commission has just published its draft Regulation on Artificial Intelligence (AI). While there’s no obligation for UK law to follow suit, the Regulation provides a helpful guide to risk from different applications of AI, and the sort of controls that might be required. What “AI” is covered? According to Article 3(1) [with sub-clauses […]

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Articles

Audience Measurement

To improve websites and other online services, measuring how they are used is a key tool. However the law on measuring visitors to websites is a mess. Nine years ago, when reviewing the types of cookies that do not need consent, the Article 29 Working Party of data protection regulators concluded that requiring consent when […]

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Articles

Draft NIS2 Directive: security teams “should” be collaborating

Anyone who works with flows, logs and other sources of information to protect network and information security should already be familiar with Recital 49 of the GDPR, where European legislators explained why that was (subject to a risk-based design) a good thing. Now the European Commission has published its draft of the replacement Network and […]

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Presentations

Data Protection and Incident Response

Early in 2021 I was invited to give a one-hour presentation on Data Protection and Incident Response, looking at how the demands of the two fields align and support each other, and how law and guidance have come to recognise that over the past decade or so. Incident Response and GDPR: slides Discussion at that […]

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Articles

Data Breach Shanty

To celebrate my 500th blog post, here’s another sea shanty: What shall we do with the stolen data? What shall we do with the stolen data? What shall we do with the stolen data? Early in the morning. Way-hey the fines are rising Way-hey the fines are rising Way-hey the fines are rising Early in […]

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Articles

Adequacy Shanty

Inspired by Gavin Freeguard’s National Data Strategy Sea-Shanty, and in homage to the shanty-makers (I’ve worked the North Atlantic on small ships), here’s my “Adequacy Shanty”… Farewell and adieu to you, fair Spanish data, Farewell and adieu to you data of Spain, For our UK law may be judg-ed inadequate, And we may never see […]