Jack Boeglin

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On February 12, 2020, the UK Home Office and Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport published the Government’s Initial Consultation Response (“Response”) to feedback received through a public consultation on its Online Harms White Paper (“OHWP”).  The OHWP, published in April 2019, proposed a comprehensive regulatory regime that would impose a “duty of care” on online services to moderate a wide spectrum of harmful content and activity on their services, including child sexual abuse material, terrorist content, hate crimes, and harassment.

While the Response does not indicate when the Government expects to introduce proposed legislation, it provides clearer direction on a number of aspects of the proposed regulatory framework set out in the OHWP, including:…
Continue Reading UK Government Publishes Initial Consultation Response on the Online Harms White Paper

Two sets of regulations aimed at readying UK data protection law for a post-Brexit world have been promulgated in recent weeks.  These regulations, which were made pursuant to the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (EUWA), will only come into force in most respects upon the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.  Broadly speaking, these regulations are intended to preserve the status quo post-Brexit by (1) amending certain provisions of the GDPR to allow it to be retained as UK domestic law and (2) transitionally adopting certain key decisions of the EU institutions that, collectively, would allow for the continued lawfulness of personal data flows out of the United Kingdom where currently permitted under EU law.  In both regards, these regulations are consistent with prior guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (discussed here).
Continue Reading UK Issues Regulations on Post-Brexit Data Protection Law

On 10 January 2018, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that the Republic of Azerbaijan violated Articles 8 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) by failing to adequately investigate claims by an Azerbaijani journalist that she had been the victim of political blackmail. The ECtHR’s ruling follows upon reports of rising concern in the Council of Europe about government mistreatment of journalists across Europe, and in Azerbaijan in particular.
Continue Reading European Court of Human Rights Finds Violation of Journalist’s Privacy

On December 13, 2018, the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) in the United Kingdom issued guidance on the state of UK data protection law should the country leave the European Union (“EU”) without having reached an agreement on the terms of its withdrawal.  Much of this latest guidance is consistent with the ICO’s earlier guidance on the topic, published in September 2018.  But as the UK’s expected withdrawal from the EU on March 29, 2019, inches closer, organizations that process the personal data of individuals resident in the UK or in other countries in the European Economic Area (EEA) should now take steps to prepare themselves for the possibility of a “no-deal” scenario.
Continue Reading Information Commissioner’s Office Issues Guidance on UK Data Protection Law in the Event of a “No-Deal” Brexit