UK

On 15 January 2024, the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) announced the launch of a consultation series (“Consultation”) on how elements of data protection law apply to the development and use of generative AI (“GenAI”). For the purposes of the Consultation, GenAI refers to “AI models that can create new content e.g., text, computer code, audio, music, images, and videos”.

As part of the Consultation, the ICO will publish a series of chapters over the coming months outlining their thinking on how the UK GDPR and Part 2 of the Data Protection Act 2018 apply to the development and use of GenAI. The first chapter, published in tandem with the Consultation’s announcement, covers the lawful basis, under UK data protection law, for web scraping of personal data to train GenAI models. Interested stakeholders are invited to provide feedback to the ICO by 1 March 2024.Continue Reading ICO Launches Consultation Series on Generative AI

On 3 October 2023, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) finalized its Employment practices and data protection − Monitoring workers guidance (“Guidance”) to account for new types of work, including work from home, and the use of more sophisticated technologies for monitoring. In November 2022, we published a detailed blog post on the ICO’s public consultation.

The finalized Guidance is aimed at employers. It does not prevent employers from engaging in monitoring; rather, it sets out how they can do so in compliance with data protection law.  The Guidance defines “monitoring workers” as “any form of monitoring of people who carry out work on [an employer’s] behalf” and can include “monitoring workers on particular work premises or elsewhere” both during and outside working hours. The Guidance is clear that it applies to homeworking.  It also applies to a range of monitoring technologies and purposes, including (but not limited to) technologies for monitoring timekeeping or access control; keystroke monitoring to track, capture and log keyboard activity; and productivity tools which log how workers spend their time.Continue Reading UK Information Commissioner’s Office Releases New Guidance for Monitoring at Work

On April 17, 2023, the UK applied to join the Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules (“CBPR”) Forum as an Associate member. It is the first country to declare its application to participate in the Global CBPR as an Associate member since its inception one-year ago. In addition to its application, the UK co-hosted the Global CBPR Forum workshop “At One Year: Challenges and Opportunities”, which took place between April 17 to April 20, 2023.Continue Reading Global CBPR Forum: A New International Data Transfer Mechanism

The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) recently published detailed draft guidance on what “likely to be accessed” by children means in the context of its Age-Appropriate Design Code (“Code”), which came into force on September 2, 2020. The Code applies to online services “likely to be accessed by children” in the UK. “Children” are individuals under the age of 18. In order to determine whether an online service is “likely to be accessed” by children, companies must assess whether the nature and content of the service has “particular appeal for children” and “the way in which the service was accessed”. This new draft guidance provides further assistance on how to make this assessment, and is undergoing a public consultation until May 19, 2023.Continue Reading UK ICO Provides Guidance On When A Service Is “Likely To Be Accessed By Children” And Needs To Comply With Its Age-Appropriate Design Code

The UK Government’s (UKG) proposals for new, sector-specific cybersecurity rules continue to take shape. Following the announcement of a Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill and a consultation on the security of apps and app stores in the Queen’s Speech (which we briefly discuss here), the UKG issued a call for views on whether action is needed to ensure cyber security in data centres and cloud services (described here).

In recent weeks, the UKG has made two further announcements:

  • On 30 August 2022, it issued a response to its public consultation on the draft Electronic Communications (Security measures) Regulations 2022 (Draft Regulations) and a draft Telecommunications Security code of practice (COP), before laying a revised version of the Draft Regulations before Parliament on 5 September.
  • On 1 September 2022, it issued a call for information on the risks associated with unauthorized access to individuals’ online accounts and personal data, and measures that could be taken to limit that risk.

We set out below further detail on these latest developments.

*****Continue Reading A packed end to the UK’s cyber summer: Government moves forward with telecoms cybersecurity proposals and consults on a Cyber Duty to Protect

The UK Government recently published its AI Governance and Regulation: Policy Statement (the “AI Statement”) setting out its proposed approach to regulating Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) in the UK. The AI Statement was published alongside the draft Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (see our blog post here for further details…

Continue Reading UK Government Sets Out Sector-Specific Vision for Regulating AI  

On 18 July 2022, following its recent response to the public consultation on the reform of UK data protection law (see our blog post on the response here), the UK Government introduced its draft Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (the “Bill”) to the House of Commons.

The Bill is 192 pages, and contains 113 sections and 13 Schedules, which amend and sit alongside existing law (the UK GDPR, Data Protection Act 2018 (“DPA”), Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (“PECR”), the Data Protection, Privacy and Electronic Communications (Amendments etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, etc.). Some readers’ immediate reaction might be to query whether the Bill will simplify the legislative framework for businesses operating in the UK and facilitate the goal of the Information Commissioner to provide “certainty” for businesses. Time will tell. The Government’s publication of a Keeling Schedule (essentially a redline of the UK GDPR and DPA 2018 showing the changes resulting from the Bill), expected in the Autumn, will be welcome.

Much of the content of the Bill was previewed in the Government’s consultation response and include proposed changes that are designed to try to reduce the administrative burden on business to some extent.  The Bill is by no means a radical departure from existing law, however, and in some key areas – such as data transfers – the law will essentially remain the same.  But we now have additional important details on proposed changes to UK data protection law, and we set out in this post our immediate thoughts on some details that are worth highlighting.Continue Reading A Cautious Approach: the UK Government’s Data Protection and Digital Information Bill

In the Queen’s Speech on 10 May 2022, the UK Government set out its legislative programme for the months ahead. This includes: reforms to UK data protection laws (no details yet); confirmation that the government will strengthen cybersecurity obligations for connected products and make it easier for telecoms providers to improve the UK’s digital infrastructure; and new rules to enable the use of self-driving cars on public roads. In addition, the government confirmed its plans to move forward with the Online Safety Bill. As part of the government’s broader agenda to “level up” the UK and provide a post-Brexit economic dividend, many of the legislative initiatives referenced in the Queen’s Speech are presented as seeking to encourage greater use of data and technology to support innovation and enable growth.

We summarize below the key digital policy announcements in the Queen’s Speech and how they fit into wider developments in the UK’s regulatory landscape.Continue Reading UK Privacy and Digital Policy & Legislative Roundup

On 22 September 2021, the UK Government published its 10-year strategy on artificial intelligence (“AI”; the “UK AI Strategy”).

The UK AI Strategy has three main pillars: (1) investing and planning for the long-term requirements of the UK’s AI ecosystem; (2) supporting the transition to an AI-enabled economy across all sectors and regions of the UK; and (3) ensuring that the UK gets the national and international governance of AI technologies “right”.

The approach to AI regulation as set out in the UK AI Strategy is largely pro-innovation, in line with the UK Government’s Plan for Digital Regulation published in July 2021.Continue Reading The UK Government Publishes its AI Strategy

On 2 September 2021, the transition year for the Children’s code (or Age Appropriate Design Code) published by the UK Information Commissioner (“ICO”) ended. The ICO’s Children’s code was first published in September 2020, with a 12-month transition period. In an accompanying blog, the ICO has stated that it will be “proactive in requiring social media platforms, video and music streaming sites and the gaming industry to tell [the ICO] how their services are designed in line with the code.”

Over the summer, the ICO has also approved two certification schemes under the UK GDPR. The certification schemes provide organizations with a mechanism to demonstrate their high level of commitment to data protection compliance.Continue Reading UK ICO’s Children’s Code Transition Year Ends and ICO Approves Related Certification Schemes