EU law
Sample Data Request Letter for the Mother and Baby Home Commission
This is intended to provide a guideline template letter for anyone who would like to access any data held relating to them by the Commission of Investigation Into Mother and Baby Homes. It should be sent immediately, given the short timeline before the Commission is scheduled to complete its work. The email address for the Commission is [email protected] ——— Dear Commission, I wish to make an access request under the Data Protection Acts and the GDPR for a confirmation that […]
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. […]
Data Transfers and the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement
On 14th November 2018, the EU and British Government published a draft of a withdrawal agreement to deal with the UK’s departure from the EU. [This analysis has been updated as of 2nd April 2019]. The Agreement has since been endorsed by the governments of the EU member states. It has been rejected three times by the UK parliament. But, despite this, it remains the only available basis for the UK to leave the EU with transitionary arrangements, including arrancements […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
USA -v- Microsoft Supreme Court hearing, Digital Rights Ireland and ORG Amicus Brief
USA -v- Microsoft is an important ongoing case, listed for hearing today before the US Supreme Court. Microsoft have been very firm that the US government’s efforts to make domestic court orders effective outside of the US is not based on a correct interpretation of US law. While lower courts sided with the US, the Federal Appeals Court of the 2nd Circuit found in favour of Microsoft. You can read the amicus brief submitted by Digital Rights Ireland, Liberty and […]
The Data Sharing Agreement re the Public Services Card
It’s a requirement that public bodies sharing personal data, and relying on the provisions of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 to do so, have an agreement in place first. I wrote in 2014 about the (eventually) fatal consequences for Irish Water’s attempts to rely on the 2005 Act in the absence of that Ministerial agreement. (It was illegal, and the hundreds of thousands of PPSN records Irish Water collected were subsequently scrapped.) So, having read through a good deal of documentation […]
Submission to the Oireachtas Committee on Health re Part 2 of the General Scheme of the Health Information and Patient Safety Bill
This submission was made today, slightly after the deadline of 3pm. Nonetheless, I have submitted it for the consideration of the Oireachtas Committee on Health in response to their call for submissions. I post it here for reference. Printable version can be downloaded here: *** HEALTH INFORMATION AND PATIENT SAFETY BILL Analysis of Part 2: PERSONAL DATA, PERSONAL HEALTH DATA AND PERSONAL HEALTH INFORMATION By Simon McGarr, McGarr Solicitors Section 5 (1) “Nothing in this Act shall be construed as […]