Data watchdog takes action against Virgin Media and six public bodies over information request failings Freedom of information The UK’s information watchdog has taken action against Virgin Media and six public bodies over their repeated failures to respond to members of the public when asked to hand over personal information. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said the seven public and private sector bodies had repeatedly failed to respond to Subject Access Requests (SAR) [...]
TikTok could face £27m fine over children’s privacy allegations TikTok TikTok is facing a possible £27m fine over claims it may have broken UK data protection law and failed to protect children’s privacy. The Information Commissioner (ICO) handed the social media platform a ‘notice of intent’ over alleged breaches between May 2018 and 2020. The investigation discovered TikTok may have processed children’s data without the [...]
Information watchdog to crack down on Freedom of Information request failures Freedom of Information The head of the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has warned public bodies it will take action against those failing to respond to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests within the required 20-day time frame, after issuing its first enforcement notice against a government department in seven years. ICO chief John Edwards said the watchdog [...]
Lawyers should stop telling clients to pay ransoms to hackers, UK watchdogs say July 12, 2022 Lawyers should not advise their clients to pay out ransoms to hackers, the UK’s data protection watchdog and cybersecurity agency have warned. In a joint letter to the Law Society, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) called on lawyers to discourage their clients from paying ransomware requests, as they argued [...]
UK’s information watchdog tells Clearview AI to delete photos of British people from facial recognition systems May 23, 2022 The UK’s information watchdog has told surveillance tech firm Clearview AI to delete its database of facial images scraped from British people’s social media profiles. The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) also fined the tech firm £7.55m, after ruling the firm broke the law by taking people’s photos without their permission. The intervention comes after [...]
Privacy watchdog fines firms for targeting vulnerable and elderly with ‘predatory’ marketing calls March 16, 2022 The UK's privacy watchdog has fined five companies over £400k after they deliberately targeted the elderly with "predatory" and "coercive" marketing calls in order to sell them unnecessary insurance.
New record for UK data watchdog as it handed out £42m in fines last year August 31, 2021 The value of ICO fines issued in the past year was the highest on record at £42m, up 1,580 per cent from the £2.5m in fines issued the previous year, reveals research from RPC, the international law firm. The rise is driven by a £20m fine issued to an airline and an £18.4m fine to [...]