RPC Privacy Law

The latest news in privacy law

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Financier granted permanent anonymity in defamation proceedings

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Harry Kinmonth

Proceedings have finally drawn to a close in the case of ZAM v CFW & TFW, which involved a financier who claimed to have been libelled by his sister-in-law (the first defendant) and her husband (the second defendant). The claim centred on the second defendant who had threatened to tell and then... read more

When can you sue under a disguised name?

Posted on May 03, 2012 by Keith Mathieson

In what circumstances can a claimant in civil litigation commence proceedings under a pseudonym? We are familiar with alphabetised claimants in injunction cases who seek anonymity on grounds that the purpose of their proceedings would otherwise be defeated: if the cheating footballer/act... read more

Chief Executive of Ann Summers gets privacy injunction

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Harry Kinmonth

Mr Justice Tugendhat has today handed down a short judgment explaining why he made an interlocutory order to prevent the publication of private and confidential information about Jacqueline Gold, the high-profile Chief Executive of Ann Summers. The first defendant in the application was Allison Cox... read more

Cabinet minister's 17-year-old son gets privacy injunction but not anonymity

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Keith Mathieson

The son of Caroline Spelman, the Environment Secretary, has obtained an injunction against the publishers of the Daily Star Sunday. The judgment is reported here. The injunction was granted to restrain publication of a story which it is alleged would have breached his right to privacy.&n... read more

A digest of recent news (1) - UK judgments

Posted on May 30, 2011 by Keith Mathieson

For one reason and another, the blog has been unable to report on much of the recent news. This entry is an attempt to remedy the situation. Normal service should be resumed shortly. UK court judgments MJN v News Group A footballer case where the Sun wished to publish the account by a lingerie ... read more

Are privacy injunctions too restrictive?

Posted on May 13, 2011 by Keith Mathieson

Has privacy law gone too far? It’s not just the editor of the Daily Mail who thinks so. The Prime Minister has said he is “uneasy” about judges “creating a sort of privacy law” and Andrew Marr is perhaps the first (and probably the last) privacy claimant to express embarrassment over his own injun... read more

The effect of privacy injunctions on third parties

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Keith Mathieson

In general, an injunction made against a defendant does not affect a third party. That proposition is, however, subject to the well-known Spycatcher principle, which is that an interlocutory injunction preventing a person from disclosing private and/or confidential information also prevents third p... read more

Super Injunctions: committee reporting soon

Posted on April 08, 2011 by Keith Mathieson

By the end of this month we expect the committee investigating super injunctions to publish its report. The committee is chaired by the Master of Rolls, Lord Neuberger, who has said in a recent speech that he expects his report to appear before the end of April. In view of recent press coverage of ... read more

The EU Council’s Conclusions On Revising EU Data Protection Law — Why Did They Bother?

Posted on April 04, 2011 by Keith Mathieson

The super tanker that is the European Union legislative process is currently trying to turn itself round with a view to revising data protection law. The current Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC) dates back to 1995. It was, of course, prepared much earlier and reflects the state of technology in ... read more

Another ruling on privacy injunctions

Posted on March 22, 2011 by Kim Waite

Judgment was handed down today in a case where a privacy injunction was made in 2008. That was only some two years ago, but two years is a long time in privacy law and particularly in the fast-moving area of injunctions, superinjunctions and anonymity. The case is Goldsmith and Khan v B... read more

The legal protection of online identities

Posted on March 21, 2011 by Kim Waite

Millions of people post comments on the web in response to articles, blogs and stories. Many do so anonymously. What should someone do if they want to take action against the person responsible for an anonymous posting? In most cases, website owners will not be able to release deta... read more

Shock decision: sportsman not unmasked

Posted on February 01, 2011 by Keith Mathieson

The identity of the sportsman officially known as JIH remains confidential. Those newspapers hoping to unmask him in the event that the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of Tugendhat J have had to content themselves with short court reports accompanied by silhouettes (presumably not of the real p... read more

Anonymity proposed for teachers accused by pupils

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Kim Waite

The controversial Education Bill was published on 26 January 2011. A proposed new restriction (clause 13 of the Bill) will apply where a pupil or their representative makes an allegation that their teacher has committed a criminal offence against a registered pupil at the teacher's school. It ... read more

A mass outbreak of anonymity: CDE and FGH v MGN and LMN

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Keith Mathieson

It is not unusual for claimants in privacy cases to be anonymised. It is less common for defendants and distinctly unusual for non-parties. The effect of Eady J's order in CDE v MGN [2010] EWHC 3308 is that we do not know the identity of the two claimants, the second defendant, her solicitor, her ... read more

Should the parties in privacy cases be anonymised? - a summary of the recent judgments

Posted on January 14, 2011 by Keith Mathieson

Since the end of the summer at least eight judgments have considered whether the parties to successful applications for privacy injunctions should be anonymised. The results (in chronological order) are as follows: DFT v TFD: both parties anonymised. AMM v HXW: both parties anonymised. Gray v UV... read more

Family court lifts restriction on naming local authority

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Kim Waite

In High Court care proceedings in which a costs order was made against a local authority, the court, having previously anonymised all parties, decided to lift the restriction on naming the local authority. Its decision was made following representations by the BBC. The case is now reported as Cove... read more

Anonymity of egg and sperm donors

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Clare Jaycock

A survey by Manchester Fertility Services highlights issues of privacy concerning egg and sperm donation. The survey suggests that the public is divided on the issue: 59% of those surveyed believed that anonymity should be preserved, whilst 41% said that children should have the right to find their... read more

Court of Protection names guilty council

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Keith Mathieson

The Court of Protection has lifted its usual anonymity rule and named a local council it rebuked for breaching the Article 5 and 8 rights of a 19-year-old man with serious learning difficulties and severe physical disabilities. Baker J's original judgment was subject to reporting restrictions which... read more

No injunction for local authority that failed to give notice to media

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Keith Mathieson

A judge has refused to make an order gagging media organisations who were not given proper notice of the application for the order. In Re Jane (a fictitious name) (A Child) [2010] EWHC 3221 (Fam) Holman J made an order restricting reporting about a child subject to an interim care order but the or... read more

Anonymisation of parties in matrimonial proceedings

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Keith Mathieson

The Court of Appeal has lifted an order by a family court judge which directed that the parties to the proceedings should be anonymised. In Lykiardopolu v Lykiardopolu [2010] EWCA Civ 1315 Mrs Justice Baron had ordered that the parties’ identities should be protected in order to avoid damage to the... read more

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About this blog

RPC Privacy Law Articles

This blog features regular postings on developments in UK privacy law written by specialist lawyers at RPC. The postings are intended to keep RPC's Privacy Law Handbook (see below) as up-to-date as possible and while postings do refer readers to relevant sections of the book, we hope and intend that the blog will also be a useful source of current information to those without access to the book.