Hands Off Our Data
Your data can get used against you and attacks on your rights mean you’ll have less ability to do anything about it.
Why data protection matters
Data protection rights protect people across all aspects of life – at work, using NHS services, applying for jobs or renting a flat. As the use of flawed and biased decision-making algorithms increases across every sector, data protection is particularly important for protecting the rights of marginalised groups, including migrants, LGBTQ people and people from racialised backgrounds. The UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been used to challenge unfair dismissals in the workplace, private companies’ use of public health data, and illegal profiling by advertising companies.
Data Use and Access Bill
The Data Bill could strip away your right to request a human review of automated decisions that impact your life and remove safeguards against data abuses by police officers.
Briefing on the data bill
Read the Open Rights Group briefing outlining all of our concerns with the Data Use and Access Bill
Find out morepolice Data powers
The Data Bill removes safeguards that compel police to provide a reason for accessing and disclosing records
Find out moreChallenging Data Harvesting
ORG has taken action to stop government bodies and the private sector from using the personal data of millions of people. We seek to enforce legal protections and safeguards in UK GDPR to prevent the harms that can result from data misuse.
AI enforcement gap in the UK
The ICO is leaving the one-sided commercial exploitation of our data to train AI unchecked and unchallenged
Find out moreORG complaint about meta privacy policy
Meta’s plans to take users’ information to “develop and improve AI”
Find out moreORG’s challenge over smart meter data
The government is attempting to collect energy consumption data
Find out moreInternational Data Transfers
International agreements allow for data transfers to countries with insufficient data protection standards, enforceable rights or effective remedies.
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The Story So Far
Give a bit, they’ll take a megabyte: Data Protection Then and Now
Data Protection Day 2026 As the Center for Democracy and Technology reports, “In what state officials have described as a “ransom note”, the Department of Justice over the weekend reissued demands for full access to Minnesota’s records on Medicaid, Food and Nutrition Service programs […], and voter rolls”.Cookie Consent Review Exposes Weaknesses in UK Data Protection Reform
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) consulted on a new enforcement approach to regulating advertising.Automated Hiring and Firing: How the Data Act will harm gig workers
The Data Use and Access (DUA) Act, which was finally passed last week, could particularly impact the estimated 4.Data Bill: First They Came for Trans People
On May 12, the Data (Use and Access) Bill, also known as the UK data protection reform, came back to the House of Lords for what was supposed to be its final stage.The ICO is leaving an AI enforcement gap in the UK
In response to our formal complaint to the ICO against Meta’s use of personal data to train Artificial Intelligence models without consent, the ICO has invited Open Rights Group (ORG) to a meeting to discuss our concerns.Light and Shadow of the Digital Information and Smart Data Bill
In what could be a new, welcomed development, Labour appear to have decided to narrow the scope of the data protection reform by … taking away the data protection parts.Meta Wants to Make Us its AI Guinea Pigs
Meta, the company that runs Facebook and Instagram, has announced plans to repurpose most of the personal data that they ever collected about you, to train their “artificial intelligence (AI) technologies” — without, of course, asking your permission to do so.Smart meter data: the Government’s at it again
Back in October 2022, ORG exposed Government plans to snoop on UK residents’ smart meters and energy consumption data.The DPDI Bill Threatens the Integrity of the UK General Election
In our latest briefing, Open Rights Group raises the alarm over changes in the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (DPDI Bill) that could open the floodgate for the abuse of data analytics and new technologies for electoral manipulation.The ICO Must Toughen Up
As the House of Lords finally begins scrutiny of the UK data protection reform, Open Rights Group urges peers to support amendments that would strengthen the independence and effectiveness of the UK data protection authority, and bolster the public’s right of seeking a remedy against an infringement of their rights.The Post Office Scandal and Data Protection
The Post Office scandal, which saw hundreds of subpostmasters wrongly convicted of fraud, is one of the UK’s biggest miscarriages of justice.Government powers overdrawn
Whether you are a pensioner or a parent, unemployed or living with a disability, you may be one of the millions of people who receive benefits from the State.UK DATA BRIDGE: A GLOBAL PRIVACY RACE TO THE BOTTOM
On October 12, the UK extension (Data Bridge) to the EU–US Transatlantic Data Privacy Framework (DPF) will come into force.The CPTPP: trading away your privacy rights
The Government have recently announced the UK accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).The Data Grab Bill attacks our data rights
ORG sent an urgent open letter to Michelle Donelan MP, the Secretary of State for the new Department of Science, Innovation and Technology.Data Grab Bill from an EU perspective
A delegation from the European Parliament visited London and left with some rather scathing opinions about the UK data protection reform, but UK Ministers have been denying that there is any issue with their proposals.UK Government failing on AI regulation
The UK Government have published their vision for “Establishing a pro-innovation approach to regulating AI”.More Information
12 May, 2025
DUA BILL AMENDMENTS HoC report stage: ORG STATEMENTS OF SUPPORT AND RATIONALE
ORG statements of support for amendments to the DUA Bill tabled in the House of Commons at Report Stage
ICO Complaints procedure for vulnerable individuals – statement of support for Siân Berry MP’s amendment NC15
The right to an effective remedy constitutes a core element of data protection: most individuals will not pursue cases before a court because of the lengthy, time-consuming and costly nature of judicial procedures.
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01 April, 2025
Data and Democracy
Briefing: Data Use and Access Bill Henry VIII powers threaten democracy and UK adequacy
Henry VIII clauses are delegated legislative powers that allow the government to override or amend primary legislation as it was enacted by Parliament.
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01 April, 2025
Data and Democracy
Joint Letter: Henry VIII powers in Data Use and Access Bill could undermine election integrity
To Sir Chris Bryant MP, Minister of State at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
To Rt Hon Angela Rayner MP Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and Deputy Prime Minister
As organisations and individuals concerned with health functioning of democracy, we welcomed the commitment in the Kings Speech to “strengthen the integrity of elections”.
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10 February, 2025
Digital Privacy
Briefing: The Data Use and Access Bill (Second Reading)
The new Data (Use and Access) Bill drops several concerning aspects of the previous Data Protection and Digital Information Bill.
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09 December, 2024
DUA BILL: ORG STATEMENTS OF SUPPORT AND RATIONALE
ICO statutory duty – statement of support for amendment HoL122
HoL122: LORD CLEMENT-JONES
This amendment removes the secondary objectives introduced by the Data Use and Access Bill, which frame innovation, competition, crime prevention and national security as competing objectives against the enforcement of data protection law.
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14 November, 2024
Digital Privacy
Briefing: Data Use and Access Bill
Executive Summary
The new Data (Use and Access) Bill drops several concerning aspects of the previous Data Protection and Digital Information Bill.
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14 November, 2024
Digital Privacy
ICO Alternative Annual Report 2023-24
In this report the Open Rights Group offers our perspective on the Information Commissioner’s Office’s (ICO) 2023-24 Annual report, and recently published data on the enforcement action it has taken (or not) over the most recent financial year.
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15 July, 2024
Digital Privacy
Complaint to the ICO about Meta
Open Rights Group has submitted a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in the UK about Meta’s plans to take users’ information to “develop and improve AI”.
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11 April, 2024
Briefing: The impact of the DPDI Bill on data use for political purposes
In this briefing, we explain how the proposed changes to the UK data protection framework that would be introduced by the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill would weaken legal safeguards around the use of personal data for political purposes, in particular by:
WHY DATA PROTECTION MATTERS
The use of personal data and data analytics for electoral campaigning rose prominently in recent times.
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18 March, 2024
Digital Privacy
Briefing: The ICO Isn’t Working and How Parliament Can Fix It
Parliamentary briefing on amendments to the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill for the House of Lords Committee Stage, March 2024.
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12 March, 2024
Digital Privacy
The impact of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill on data use for political purposes
In this briefing, we explain how the proposed changes to the UK data protection framework that would be introduced by the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill would weaken legal safeguards around the use of personal data for political purposes.
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08 March, 2024
8 March 2024 Letter to Commissioner Reynders from LIBE Committee Chair DPDI Bill
Dear Commissioner Reynders,
The LIBE Committee closely follows the matters linked to the United Kingdom’s data protectionregime and adequacy findings granted to the UK by the European Commission.
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28 August, 2023
28 August 2023 Reply from Commissioner Reynders to LIBE Committee Chair DPDI Bill
Honourable Chair, dear Juan,
Thank you for your letter of 13 June 2023, in which you ask the Commission about its assessmentof the UK’s Data Protection and Digital Information Bill that is currently before the UK Parliament.
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13 June, 2023
13 June 2023 Letter to Commissioner Reynders from LIBE Committee Chair DPDI Bill
Dear Commissioner Reynders,
On 23 May 2023, LIBE committee Members held an exchange of views with the UK InformationCommissioner, Mr John Edwards, which was organised as follow-up to the LIBE committee’smission to the United Kingdom in November 2022.
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20 November, 2023
Parliamentary Briefing – Data Protection and Digital Information Bill
Briefing for the Report Stage, November 2023
DATA BILL WILL SET BACK UK ECONOMY AND RIGHTS
The Data Protection and Digital Information (DPDI) Bill will have its report stage in Parliament on November 29 2023.
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23 May, 2023
How the Data Grab Bill harms migrants’ data rights
Briefing on the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill
If you are a migrant in the UK, asylum seeker, refugee or working on this issue, you should read this carefully.
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12 April, 2023
Data Grab Bill will set back the UK economy and rights
Briefing on the Data Protection and Digital Information (No 2) Bill
The Data Protection and Digital Information (DPDI) Bill had its second reading in Parliament on April 17 2023, after months of delays, internal civil service confusion, and strong civil society opposition.
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19 October, 2022
Analysis: The UK Data Protection and Digital Information Bill
Open Rights Group analysis of the UK Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, as it was presented on 18 July 2022
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19 November, 2021
Open Rights Group Response to Data: a new direction
Open Rights Group submission to oppose DCMS plans to water down data protection in Data: a new direction
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On 10 September 2021, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) published “Data: a new direction”, a consultation about reforms to the UK data protection framework.
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Press Releases
03 December, 2025
The ICO Fails to Take Action over the Post Office Horizon Scandal
The ICO has just applied its public sector approach and issued a reprimand to the Post Office for their Horizon IT scandal data breach.
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24 November, 2025
70+ organisations and experts demand action over failing ICO
Over 70 civil society organisations, academics and data protection experts have urged the Chair of the Select Committee for Science Information and Technology to open an inquiry into the collapse in enforcement activity by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
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12 June, 2025
Dangerous Data Bill Affects Us All, Not Just Creative Industries
Digital rights campaigners, the Open Rights Group have warned that the Data Use and Access Bill contains dangerous provisions that will not only make it harder for people to have control over their personal data and lives, but also threaten adequacy status with the EU.
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06 May, 2025
‘I was failed by the ICO’: Data Bill Amendment Could Help Survivors of Abuse
Open Rights Group is calling for a change to the law to protect the privacy and safety of survivors of modern slavery and gender-based violence.
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01 April, 2025
Democracy groups warn of threat ‘Henry VIII’ powers pose to future election integrity
Democracy organisations, privacy groups and academics have written to government ministers to warn that powers in the Data Use and Access (DUA) Bill could threaten the integrity of future elections.
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06 December, 2024
Letter to Peter Kyle: Keep our right not to be subjected to decisions based solely on AI
Civil society organisations, trade unions, academics and campaigners have called for the government to scrap proposals to remove the right not to be subject to decisions made by automated or AI systems.
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19 November, 2024
Police to get more data powers despite Sarah Everard records breach
The Data use and Access (DUA) Bill will have its second reading in the House of Lords today.
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14 November, 2024
ICO’s failure to enforce is putting the public at risk
Digital rights campaigners have published the Alternative ICO Annual Report, an analysis of the actions taken by the ICO against companies and organisations that have breached data protection law.
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24 October, 2024
Data Use and Access Bill will fail to protect public from AI harms
The Data Use and Access Bill will fail to protect the public from harmful uses of artificial intelligence, say digital rights campaigners, Open Rights Group.
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16 September, 2024
ICO fails UK Meta users and allows social media giant to resume data scraping for AI
Open Rights Group have called on the ICO to justify its refusal to issue a binding order to stop Meta’s plans to scrape users data in order to train its AI systems.
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15 July, 2024
ORG complaint to ICO about Meta privacy policy changes
Open Rights Group has submitted a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) about Meta’s plans to take users’ information to “develop and improve AI”.
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28 May, 2024
Demise of the DPDI is good news for data protection in the UK
Open Rights Group has welcomed the announcement that the Data Protection and Digital Information (DPDI) Bill will be dropped as a result of the dissolution of parliament prior to the General Election.
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25 April, 2024
Europe warns of threat to adequacy agreement
LIBE committee raises concerns about Data Protection and Digital Information Bill to UK government and European Commission.
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20 March, 2024
The DPDI Bill will make it harder for people to get justice from the ICO
The Data Protection and Digital Information (DPDI) Bill will harm the independence of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and make it harder for people to get justice when they experience data protection abuses, warns Open Rights Group.
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10 August, 2023
UK Shaken by Major Data Breaches: Security Concerns Surge Over Data Protection Changes
Recent major data breaches, impacting crucial institutions like the Electoral Commission and the Police Service of Northern Ireland, have brought attention to potential risks linked to the proposed Data Protection and Digital Information Bill.
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04 July, 2023
Experts and civil society organisations warn European Commission of threat to adequacy agreement
Threat to Data Rights
28 civil society organisations and privacy experts have written to the European Commission to raise concerns about the threat that UK data reform poses to European citizens’ data rights.
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08 March, 2023
Revised Data Grab Bill an even greater threat to privacy
Open Rights Group has responded to the publication of a new draft of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill.
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07 March, 2023
26 civil society groups call on government to stop the Data Grab Bill
26 civil society organisations have written to the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Michelle Donelan MP, calling for the Data Protection and Digital Information (DPDI) Bill to be dropped.
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19 October, 2022
Government’s Dismantling of Data Protection undermines rape victims’ protections from digital strip searches
• Laws that underpin new code of practice to protect rape victims from digital strip searches are about to be reformed.
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