In the first Parliamentary debate on police use of live facial recognition technology, significant concerns were raised in relation to the latitude afforded to chief officers in deploying the biometric artificial intelligence (AI) tool. Handley Gill’s specialist consultants, whose advice on the deployment of LFR was acknowledged during the debate, consider the implications of the new Labour government’s proposals to revisit the legislative and regulatory framework governing the deployment of live facial recognition by law enforcement.

The new Labour government has today (23 October 2024) introduced the Data (Use and Access) Bill in the House of Lords, in the latest attempt to reform the UK’s data protection laws as set out in the UK GDPR, Data Protection Act 2018, Data Protection Act 1998 and Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.

While the sale of marketing lists is generally prohibited, as retail insolvencies increase Handley Gill’s specialist data protection consultants analyse the Information Commissioner’s laissez-faire approach to the purchase and use of the CRM databases of companies in administration and consider the opportunity this offers to administrators and potential purchasers of distressed businesses by reference to the recent case studies of Tesco’s purchase of Paperchase’s assets and the sale of The Body Shop’s assets.  

With employers having a matter of weeks to implement reasonable measures to prevent sexual harassment at work to comply with the requirements of the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, Handley Gill's consultants identify the steps employers should take to establish a sexual harassment prevention programme and associated data protection compliance measures. As Labour's Employment Rights Bill would expand the scope of the employer's duty to take all reasonable measures and to address threats posed by third parties, employers should consider voluntarily expanding the scope of their programme now.

If you couldn’t make it to the Information Commissioner's Office's (ICO's) Data Protection Practitioners' Conference 2024 (DPPC24), missed a session, were double-booked, couldn’t choose or want to delve deeper into the issues raised by any of the following sessions, Handley Gill's specialist data protection consultants highlight our related content.

Handley Gill's specialist data protection consultants consider the status of CJEU judgments in UK law after the Labour government intervened to prevent section 6 Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 from coming into force and amending the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, and consider several CJEU judgments addressing the processing of special category personal data, the interaction between data protection and competition law, the conduct and balancing of legitimate interests assessments, data minimisation and the status of supervisory authority decisions.

As Meta announces the introduction of Instagram Teen Accounts for users in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia, Handley Gill’s specialist data protection and online trust and safety consultants consider the global laws and regulations that have spurred this change, and the role of the Information Commissioner’s Children’s Code aka the Age Appropriate Design Code, the UK Online Safety Act 2023, the US’ Kids Online Safety Act (‘KOSA’) and the Children and Teen’s Online Privacy Protection Act (‘COPPA 2.0’).

The UK government has today (05 September 2024) joined the US, EU and other countries in signing the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law. Handley Gill’s specialist artificial intelligence (AI) consultants consider the implications of this statement of intent for the UK’s current and proposed legislation as announced in the King’s Speech 2024, and what new laws and amendments will be necessary to enable the UK to meet the AI Treaty’s obligations.

As Iceland boss Richard Walker decried data protection and human rights laws for allegedly preventing him and his staff from sharing information with other retailers in order tackle the scourge of shoplifting, Handley Gill’s specialist data protection consultants consider how these and other laws apply to retailers and shopping centre operators and identify the steps retailers can take to lawfully share personal data for the purposes of preventing or detecting crime.

August 2024 edition of Handley Gill’s monthly digital newsletter, On Hand, with all the latest developments in data protection (UK, EU and global), cyber security, AI and machine learning, content regulation, online safety, open justice, access to information, reputation management, digital markets regulation, human rights & ESG. Presented in a readily digestible digital format, those who prefer the traditional newsletter format can export the newsletter to pdf.