Blog
Mass Surveillance
04 Aug 2022 By Dr Monica Horten
How the Online Safety Bill puts a spy in your pocket
The deployment of client-side scanning on private messaging systems was trailed in a recent research paper published by the technical directors of GCHQ and the National Cybersecurity Centre (NCSC).
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02 Aug 2022 By Sahdya Darr
Migrant Digital Justice Toolkit
How-to-fight data discrimination – launching a new toolkit for the migrants’ rights sector
The Migrant Digital Justice Programme (MDJP) at ORG is proud to launch our Migrant Digital Justice Toolkit.
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21 Jul 2022 By James Baker
How the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill affects you
Nadine Dorries and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sports (DCMS) have released their Data Protection and Digital Information Bill– Our policy expert Mariano deli Santi has produced his initial analysis ‘Data the Wrong Direction’ of the implications.
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14 Jul 2022 By Dr Monica Horten
MPs must rethink this dire Bill
The government has delayed further debate on the Online Safety Bill until the Autumn.
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07 Jul 2022 By Jim Killock
Board nominations Open
Open Rights Group is electing three Board members in 2022, to help lead our governance and oversight at a time of major change.
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28 Jun 2022 By Sophia Akram
‘Prevent’ and the attack on free speech
A review of the government’s controversial Prevent duty has been a long time coming.
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27 Jun 2022 By Mariano delli Santi
The UK Data Reform Bill and the British Bill of Rights: a tragedy in two acts
The dust hasn’t settled since plans to undermine everyone’s right to data protection were announced, but the Government are at it again.
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22 Jun 2022 By Aislinn Lambert
Make a difference! An invitation to join the Open Rights Group Advisory Council
Do you have deep knowledge of the digital rights space?
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17 Jun 2022 By Mariano delli Santi
Brace yourselves: new UK data laws are coming
The Government have just announced their plans to gut the UK General Data Protection Regulation.
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17 Mar 2022 By Jim Killock
Online Safety made dangerous
From the government press release, and without seeing the text of the Bill, there are already things we can say about the Online Safety Bill.
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15 Mar 2022 By Open Rights Group
Digital Rights and Ukraine
The war in Ukraine is having profound impacts on the digital rights of people in Ukraine, Russia and the UK.
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10 Mar 2022 By Jim Killock
Internet policy is broken
The government’s proposals for the Online Safety Bill are getting worse, rather than better.
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09 Mar 2022 By Sanjana Varghese
Bridging sectors – new grassroots alliances for migrant digital justice
The story so far
Since establishing the Migrant Digital Justice Programme (previously known as the Immigration, Data and Technology Programme) in 2020, ORG has been working at the intersection of the migrants’ rights sector and the digital rights ecosystem.
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25 Feb 2022 By Jim Killock
The Online Safety Bill: punishing victims
The government has today announced two new regressive and unworkable additions to the Online Safety Bill.
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23 Feb 2022 By Sahdya Darr
New name and start for our migration work
Since its inception in 2020, our immigration, data and technology programme has worked to understand the needs and capacities of civil society organisations in the field of migrant’ rights and support them to incorporate digital advocacy in their work.
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03 Feb 2022 By Mariano delli Santi
A day of reckoning for IAB and Adtech
In a damning verdict, the Belgian Data Protection Authority ruled the illegality of IAB cookie consent banners.
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17 Jan 2022 By Sahdya Darr
Government disregards Court’s Immigration Exemption ruling
This week the House of Commons and the House of Lords will consider the Government’s proposed legislation regarding amendments to the immigration exemption.
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22 Dec 2021 By Mike Morel
Our year of action
With Britain still in the throes of Covid-19, 2021 was a truly unique year for the movement to protect our digital rights.
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17 Dec 2021 By Robert Sharp
Joint Committee advice cannot fix flawed Online Safety Bill
On 14 December 2021, the Joint Parliamentary Committee charged with scrutinising the draft Online Safety Bill published its report.
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14 Dec 2021 By Jim Killock
Online Safety Bill will not tackle monopoly abuse
As Parliament makes its recommendations on the Online Safety Bill, trying to fix the problems of accountability it brings, while perhaps adding new complexities, we need to step back and ask whether the Bill will do the job it is setting out to do.
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13 Dec 2021 By Robert Sharp
Online Safety Bill: Sweeping Ministerial Powers
The Joint Parliamentary Committee scrutinising the government’s Draft Online Safety Bill concluded its evidence sessions on 4 November.
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12 Dec 2021 By Robert Sharp
What’s the Harm in the Online Safety Bill?
Throughout the development of the government’s Online Harms policy, a central concern of ORG and other human rights organisations is how any legally mandated content moderation policy could practically be achieved.
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11 Dec 2021 By Open Rights Group
Our Adtech challenge: what we won, what we lost and what we do next
On Friday 26 November 2021, the Upper Tribunal ruled (in Killock and Veale & Ors v Information Commissioner (GI/113/2021 and ors) on our challenge against the ICO’s handling of our complaint concerning illegal data processing in the AdTech sector.
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10 Dec 2021 By Robert Sharp
Online Safety Bill: Kill Switch for Encryption
Of the many worrying provisions contained within the draft Online Safety Bill, perhaps the most consequential is contained within Chapter 4, at clauses 63-69.
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01 Dec 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
ORG response to Data: a new direction
We submitted our response to Government plans to deregulate data protection, also known as “Data: a new direction”.
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11 Nov 2021 By Sahdya Darr
Newsletter: Migration, Data and Digital Rights
Welcome to the November edition of Migration, Data and Digital Rights!
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10 Nov 2021 By Jim Killock and Mariano delli Santi
Lloyd vs Google: UK needs collective redress
In 2012, Google hacked the web browers of million of Apple users to store data on their devices and track their activities online.
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13 Oct 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
New UK data laws are Govt revenge against NHS patients
Health data has become one of the most valued prizes of the surveillance economy, but they aren’t being used to “save lives”.
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01 Oct 2021 By Jim Killock
Lord Frost says: bypass Parliament to rewrite EU rules
Government is considering demanding powers to rewrite any and all ‘retained EU legislation’ while bypassing Parliament.
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29 Sep 2021 By Jim Killock and Mariano delli Santi
Weakening privacy will fuel online harms
Government is asking a big question: how do we regulate the tech industry?
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22 Sep 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
New UK data laws will harm mothers and children
In data: a new direction, the UK Government proposes to reform legitimate interest.
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17 Sep 2021 By Heather Burns
Papers please: nationality checks for the British internet?
Over the course of the debate on how to tackle online harms, we’ve drawn attention to the risks to digital and human rights which can arise when technical solutionism meets poorly drafted legislation.
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15 Sep 2021 By Heather Burns
How the Online Safety Bill lets politicians define free speech
The Joint Pre-Legislative Scrutiny committee has opened its work into the draft Online Safety Bill.
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14 Sep 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Vandalising your privacy rights
Anything you say and do can and will be used against you.
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10 Sep 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Why on earth is the Government mucking about with our privacy laws?
Thursday evening, the UK Government published their long-awaited proposal for a new UK data protection regime.
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09 Sep 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Cookie banners, explained
Cookie banners are hitting the headlines, as policymakers and activists across political divides seek to take action on them once and for all.
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08 Sep 2021 By Sahdya Darr
Afghans targeted by fake Home Office website
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is currently deciding whether it will take further action against a fake website created by the Home Office.
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27 Aug 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Government prepares to take back control – of your privacy
The UK Government has unveiled their plans to deregulate data protection laws.
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18 Aug 2021 By Sahdya Darr
Digital deception & disinformation used to deter migrants
The Information Commissioner’s Office has opened an investigation into a fake website created by the Home Office.
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30 Jul 2021 By Sahdya Darr
Immigration, Data & Technology Newsletter
Welcome to the July edition of Immigration, Data and Technology!
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27 Jul 2021 By Heather Burns
Age verification in the Online Safety Bill
The draft Online Safety Bill’s provisions on mandatory age verification don’t just threaten your rights to privacy and freedom of expression – they also threaten the integrity of the Internet’s architecture.
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20 Jul 2021 By Heather Burns
Encryption in the Online Safety Bill
Let’s look at how the Online Safety Bill brings the contents of your private communications into scope for scanning, monitoring, and censorship.
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12 Jul 2021 By Heather Burns & Jim Killock
Racists must be prosecuted, not moderated
The wave of racist comments on social media that has followed the England football defeat is reprehensible: but so is the fiction that this problem must be ‘solved’ by social media companies.
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06 Jul 2021 By Heather Burns
Access denied: Service blocking in the Online Safety Bill
As the Online Safety Bill approaches the pre-legislative scrutiny process, attention is being drawn to the powers which government will have to redefine, constrain, and censor the boundaries of our free and legal speech.
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01 Jul 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Fear and loathing in the UK adequacy decision
On June 28, the European Commission adopted the UK adequacy decision, which will allow personal data to be transferred from the EU to the UK without additional safeguards.
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30 Jun 2021 By Sahdya Darr
Newsletter: Immigration, Data and Technology
Welcome to the June edition of Immigration, Data and Technology!
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23 Jun 2021 By Heather Burns
Duty to Censor: What’s legal to say should be legal to type
Open Rights Group has joined Index on Censorship’s “Legal to say, legal to type” campaign to scrutinise and push back against the threats to freedom of expression created by government’s Online Safety Bill.
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17 Jun 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Stand Up for Privacy
Yesterday, on June 16, the Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform published a report outlining their vision to “refresh the UK’s approach to regulation now that we have left the EU”.
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14 Jun 2021 By Heather Burns
MPs: Encryption keeps your constituents safe
Today (14 June) Open Rights Group has joined over thirty digital and human rights organisations in calling on MPs to keep their constituents safe by protecting end-to-end encryption from legislative threats.
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09 Jun 2021 By Heather Burns & Sahdya Darr
Is government preparing to censor discussions about migration?
Over the weekend, you may have seen news reports discussing how Home Secretary Priti Patel has ordered social media companies to remove posts which “glamourise” dangerous migrant crossings from Europe.
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01 Jun 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Adtech: let’s get rid of cookie banners
A nuisance is troubling the Internet and the digital life of Europeans: the consent or ‘cookie’ banner.
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28 May 2021 By Sahdya Darr
Newsletter: Immigration, Data and Technology
Welcome to the May edition of Immigration, Data and Technology!
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05 May 2021 By Heather Burns
Online abuse: Why management liability isn’t the answer
As part of recent high-profile campaigns against social media abuse, calls have been repeated to impose criminal sanctions and penalties onto the directors and managers of companies where that abuse takes place.
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29 Apr 2021 By Open Rights Group
Don’t let the Government create a digital Police state
You might be aware of plans to give Police more powers through the Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Bill 2021.
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29 Apr 2021 By Jim Killock
The Government assault on your privacy rights
It has been a busy few months for developments on privacy, even placing the COVID response aside.
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27 Apr 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Adtech vs. iOS, explained
With their last update for the iOS operating system, Apple rolled out a feature called App Transparency Tracking framework.
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23 Apr 2021 By Sahdya Darr
NFI proposals seek to give police more powers
Many people are aware that the UK Government is trying to give police more powers through the Police,Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill 2021.
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22 Apr 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
#StopStalkerAds: adtech is watching you!
Following our open letter to the European Parliament, Open Rights Group are launching a new campaign that wants to #StopStalkerAds.
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21 Apr 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
UK Adequacy: it’s only the beginning
The European Data Protection Board issued their opinion about the draft UK adequacy decision.
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14 Apr 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Adtech: an Open Letter to the European Parliament
Today, Open Rights Group, Panoptykon and Liberties EU sent an Open Letter to the European Parliament, asking them to stand up for the ePrivacy Regulation and our online privacy.
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06 Apr 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Adtech: An industry broken by design and by default
European Digital Rights (EDRi) recently published “targeted online: an industry broken by design and by default”.
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01 Apr 2021 By Heather Burns
Endgame for end-to-end encryption
Today, Wired has reported that the Home Office is actively exploring legal and technical mechanisms to compel Facebook and WhatsApp to break end-to-end encrypted messaging.
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31 Mar 2021 By Sahdya Darr
Immigration, Data and Technology newsletter
Welcome to the third edition of Immigration, Data and Technology!
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29 Mar 2021 By Mariano delli Santi & Heather Burns
First look at vaccine passports
Countries around the world are considering introducing vaccine passports, and the UK is among them.
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26 Mar 2021 By Sahdya Darr
Privacy & migrant groups win extension on data matching powers
This week Open Rights Group along with other privacy advocates and organisations working for migrants’ rights were pleased to be informed that the National Fraud Initiative (NFI) agreed to our request to further extend the deadline to respond to the NFI Data Matching Powers and new Code of Data Matching Practice consultation until 5 May.
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24 Mar 2021 By Jim Killock & Heather Burns
Nominet’s chance to build a better Internet
This week, during Nominet’s EGM, Open Rights Group cast its organisational membership vote to change the current Board membership.
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18 Mar 2021 By Matthew Rice & Mariano delli Santi
Europe cannot rubber stamp the UK’s data laws
The United Kingdom is currently awaiting a decision from Europe on whether it provides adequate standards of data protection.
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17 Mar 2021 By Matthew Rice & Heather Burns
Trust is a two-way street: the UK’s digital identity framework
Open Rights Group has recently responded to the DCMS policy paper on the UK’s digital identity and attributes trust framework.
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16 Mar 2021 By Heather Burns
#SaveAnonymity: Together we can defend anonymity
In recent days, a petition has circulated online which calls for a legal requirement to provide a verified form of ID in order to open a social media account.
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11 Mar 2021 By Heather Burns
Save Online Speech Coalition Launches
Today Open Rights Group has joined our colleagues from Big Brother Watch, the Adam Smith Institute, Article 19, Global Partners Digital, and Index on Censorship in launching a campaign to demand that the Online Safety Bill protects freedom of expression online.
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10 Mar 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Blindspots in new guidance on use of data in campaigning
The Information Commissioner’s Office published their new “Guidance for the use of personal data in political campaigning”.
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02 Mar 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Wanted: corporate lobbyist to take over the ICO
Communicating “the wider benefits of data sharing”, “commercial and business acumen”, experience “of using data to drive innovation and growth”; and, of course, “excellent communication and relationship management skills”.
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26 Feb 2021 By Sahdya Darr
Data & Immigration update – February newsletter
Welcome to the second edition of Immigration, Data and Technology!
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25 Feb 2021 By Matthew Rice
The Government’s own goals on data privacy
The UK Government has decided not to take up an optional power to improve data protection enforcement.
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24 Feb 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Adtech – an offer you can’t refuse
This spring, Apple will implement a new policy that will require App Store developers to ask for users’ permission in order to track them online.
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27 Jan 2021 By Sahdya Darr
Newsletter: Immigration, Data and Technology
Happy New Year!
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25 Jan 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
ICO enforcement: two years after the GDPR
On Tuesday, the Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham will appear in front of the DCMS Committee for a hearing, where she will be questioned about her office’s role in protecting personal data against targeted online advertising, and the use of personal data for tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
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Data and Democracy
22 Jan 2021 By Matthew Rice
ORG Takes Political Parties to Privacy Watchdog
On 11 December 2020, the eve of the anniversary of the 2019 General Election Open Rights Group submitted complaints, represented by the data rights firm AWO, to the Information Commissioner’s Office on behalf of data subjects on the processing of personal data by the Labour Party, the Conservative and Unionist Party and the Liberal Democrats.
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13 Jan 2021 By Heather Burns
Speech offences: what’s illegal offline should be illegal online
Open Rights Group has worked with David Allen Green of Preiskel & Co.
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11 Jan 2021 By Jim Killock
Trump takedowns need accountability
Late last week, in response to the insurrection at the Capitol, Twitter and Facebook removed Donald Trump’s accounts.
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21 Dec 2020 By Mike Morel
Our movement turns 15
In 2005, a dedicated group of grassroots activists created Open Rights Group (ORG) to protect the digital rights of people in the UK.
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15 Dec 2020 By Heather Burns
Online harms: Freedom of expression remains under threat
Today (15 December) government has published its long-awaited full response to the Online Harms White Paper ahead of the publication of the Online Safety Bill next year.
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11 Dec 2020 By Mariano delli Santi
Our fight against Adtech gets bigger
Two years ago, complaints against real time bidding (RTB) were lodged by Jim Killock of Open Rights Group, Michael Veale of UCL, and Johnny Ryan.
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24 Nov 2020 By Sahdya Darr
How will the National Data Strategy affect migrants and refugees?
In early September the government launched its National Data Strategy (NDS) which it described as ‘an ambitious, pro-growth strategy that aims to drive the UK in building a world-leading data economy while ensuring public trust in data use.
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23 Nov 2020 By Jim Killock
Parliament must hold the ICO to account
The Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Committee of the House of Commons will hold a hearing with Information Commissioner soon.
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19 Nov 2020 By Jim Killock
Commons Committee spells out Japan deal digital risks
The Commons International Trade Select Committee today has politely and clearly signalled that the shift in data protection provisions put forward in the Japan-UK Trade Deal is meaningful.
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18 Nov 2020 By Jim Killock
The ICO must fix the Adtech industry
When we first took on the ad industry we knew it would not be simple.
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17 Nov 2020 By Mariano delli Santi
Belgian DPA fires a warning shot at adtech, what’s next?
In 2018 we lodged complaints in UK and Ireland against real time bidding (RTB), a technology which powers commercial tracking on the Internet.
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16 Nov 2020 By Jim Killock
The democratic deficit weakening privacy in the UK-Japan deal
Trade agreements matter; and Parliament has been cut out of the substance.
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13 Nov 2020 By Heather Burns
ORG signs joint civil society statement defending encryption
Open Rights Group has signed onto a joint civil society statement expressing concerns over proposals by the UK government which would undermine encryption, including through its Online Harms Bill.
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12 Nov 2020 By Pascal Crowe
10,000,000 voters racially profiled by Conservatives
The summary report of ICO’s audits of UK political parties have finally been published.
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12 Nov 2020 By Mariano delli Santi
Bringing sticks to a gunfight: how the ICO fails to enforce the law
As you may be aware of, we are taking the Information Commissioner’s Office to Court over their failure to enforce the law against digital advertising and real time bidding.
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11 Nov 2020 By Jim Killock
Parliament must act before it’s too late
Our blog on Monday made a simple point.
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09 Nov 2020 By Heather Burns & Jim Killock
Japan Trade Deal punches USA-sized hole in privacy
The UK has just signed its first new free trade agreement, independently from the EU, with Japan.
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06 Nov 2020 By Pascal Crowe
Digital Imprints, GDPR and Enforcement
Yesterday ORG submitted its response to the Cabinet Office’s technical consultation on digital imprints.
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26 Oct 2020 By Heather Burns
Online Harms: Encryption under attack
The UK government wants to make the web “safer” by using the Online Harms Bill to weaken encryption of private messages.
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