Data Protection
Overview on EDPB Opinion 28/2024 on Personal Data in AI models
The European Data Protection Board has issued a guidance note on how to approach the regulation of artificial intelligence models. This was done at the request of the Irish Data Protection Commission who asked the EDPB to issue an opinion on matters of general application pursuant to Article 64(2) of the GDPR. They asked four specific questions. The executive summary of the report answers each one in turn. When it comes to the first question, the opinion sets out a […]
McGarr Solicitors one of Ireland’s Best Law Firms 2022
Everyone likes to have their work recognised, but there is a particular satisfaction which comes from having your expertise recognised by your peers and colleagues. So it was a great honour to find that McGarr Solicitors had been listed as one of the top 75 Law Firms in Ireland by Statista, in conjunction with the Sunday Independent. It was particularly welcome that we were recognised for both our medical negligence work and our data protection expertise. Internationally, Statista has partnered […]
Sample letter in response to Dept of Children refusal to provide Health Data in response to Mother and Baby Home survivor Data Subject Access Request
Dear Sirs, I write further to your letter of the [insert date of reply to SAR letter]. I note that, in response to a Data Subject Access Request made under Article 15 of the GDPR, the Department has acknowledged it holds a number of records relating to my health but has refused to provide them to me. Your letter, referred to above, cites SI 82/1989 as the basis for this refusal. You state; These 1989 Regulations mean that the Department […]
Personal Data Transfers after Brexit (Aug 2019 edition)
“There will no longer be a fundamental right to data protection post Brexit & this is something which cannot be remedied by domestic legal settlements short of a British Bill of Rights, & even then perhaps not so if Parliament retains sovereignty” Professor Andrew D MurrayLondon School of Economics Brexit is a challenge to any UK organisation attempting to plan even a few months ahead. It may represent an even greater challenge for any other organisation trading with the UK. […]
Ireland’s role in Myanmar atrocities
The Government and military forces of Myanmar are the central focus of the UN Human Rights Council mission report on the plight of the Rohingya people of Myanmar. However, the report cites Facebook’s involvement and states:“The extent to which Facebook posts and messages have led to real-world discrimination and violence must be independently and thoroughly examined.” Ostensibly, it falls to Ireland to initiate an examination as suggested by the Human Rights Council mission because the Facebook accounts established for the […]
The UN Human Rights Council
Urgent questions for the Data Protection Commission. A) Do you know that the United Nations Human Rights Council has deplored the failures of “Facebook” in connection with the facilitation of genocide by the Myanmar military in Rakhine district in Myanmar? B) Do you not know that, under international criminal law, the commander of a military force is, in principal, responsible for the crimes of his forces? C) Do you know that General Min Aung Hlaing, the commander of the Myanmar […]
Google’s policeman
It is very nice to have a good infographic. See this infographic to understand (some of) the GDPR. It is worth examining the infographic and contrasting it with Google’s latest boo-boo. Sorry, that boo-boo is not recent; its old news. See it HERE and HERE. Significantly, that too, a belated recognition that the horse has bolted, was a feature of the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal. Every detail of that embroglio was long in the public domain before it was seen as […]
The GDPR is not US Confederate money
Senator Mark Warner is the Democrat Vice Chairman of the US Senate Intelligence Committee. He issued a policy paper, in some fashion, in July 2018. It includes the redundant idea that the US should have a law “mimicking” the GDPR (or a watered down version of it). This suggestion was directed to the idea that internet users should be entitled to give or withhold their consent to the use of or access to their personal data. What the Senator seems […]
Facebook’s Foundations
Here is a report from the New York Times dated 3rd June 2018. It reports that Facebook has current deals with many “devicemanufacturers” and that under the deals the manufacturers were given access to the personal data of Facebook users. The important elements of that story are as follows: 1. The report is of current events, i.e., events after the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) came into force on 25th May 2018. 2. The Facebook users (like the New […]
The Facial Images on the PSC are Biometric Data
Contention: That images of people’s faces which allow or confirm the identification of a person are biometric data and therefore data controllers and processors require a lawful basis under both Article 6 and Article 9 of the GDPR to process that data. Evidence: 1) The GDPR Article 4(14) of the General Data Protection Directive defines biometric data as follows; (emphasis added) ‘biometric data’ means personal data resulting from specific technical processing relating to the physical, physiological or behavioural characteristics of […]