RPC Privacy Law

The latest news in privacy law

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Damages for unauthorised access to medical records

Posted on January 29, 2012 by Keith Mathieson

A judge has awarded £12,500 to a man whose pre-existing personality disorder was exacerbated after his partner accessed his medical records and challenged him about his mental illness. The woman obtained unauthorised access while employed as a nurse by Plymouth Hospital NHS Trust and it was ag... read more

Phone hacking scandal reaches a new plane

Posted on July 06, 2011 by Keith Mathieson

If, as seems likely, it proves true that the News of the World did indeed hack into the voicemail messages of the abducted teenager Milly Dowler, the phone hacking saga moves onto an entirely new plane. This blog has previously argued that the fuss about phone-hacking has been overblown - it is pla... read more

Phone-hacking is not a hanging offence

Posted on April 15, 2011 by Keith Mathieson

In February Donald Trelford, the respected former editor of the Observer, wrote in the Independent that the phone-hacking saga was a case of "dog eats dog gone barking-mad". In his view, the agenda was driven by a combination of MPs and celebrities bent on revenge against the tabloid press, greedy ... 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

Phone-hacking claims - a new legal pursuit

Posted on January 26, 2011 by Keith Mathieson

The pack of lawyers representing the alleged victims of phone hacking by the News of the World seems to grow on an almost weekly basis. The lawyer for Gordon Taylor, possibly the first person to get a settlement from the newspaper, seeks distinction as the person who “devised the ‘phone-hacking’ cl... read more

UK referred to ECJ over internet privacy

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Keith Mathieson

On 30 September 2010 the European Commission announced that it referred the UK to the European Court of Justice for its alleged failure to implement EU laws on the confidentiality of electronic communications such as emails or internet browsing. The referral follows legal action against the UK by t... read more

Computer hacker fined £21,000

Posted on January 11, 2011 by Keith Mathieson

A computer hacker who admitted offences under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 has been fined £21,000 and given a 36-week prison sentence suspended for two years. Daniel Woo, a Bulgarian national of Hans Crescent, London SW1, had been caught installing password-capturing software on the campus network ... read more

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.