Category Thought Leadership

March 25, 2018,  Consumer behaviour, EU General Data Protection Regulation, Legal update, News, Social marketing practice, Thought Leadership  No comments

March 25, 2018,  EU General Data Protection Regulation, News, Thought Leadership  No comments

February 12, 2018,  Brand marketing, EU General Data Protection Regulation, News, Thought Leadership  No comments

The Financial Times reports this morning (Monday 12 Feb 2018) that Unilever, the world’s second-largest advertiser has warned social media giants Google and Facebook that it will pull its advertising from their platforms if they continue to ‘’foster hate’’ or fail to act responsibly in the wake of the exponential increase in offensive and unlawful content that is posted on its platforms and represents a direct assault on the rights, freedoms and interests of millions of data subjects, including children.

The climate has turned and social media giants now find themselves in a media storm where sitting back and doing nothing is no longer an option...

January 28, 2018,  EU General Data Protection Regulation, Thought Leadership  No comments

On Thursday 25 January 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that 30-year old Austrian privacy campaigner Max Schrems couldn’t bring a class action law suit against Facebook Ireland for what he claims was illegal use of personal data but granted him permission to challenge the social media giant’s business practices in his native Austria.

The second CJEU ruling in Schrems’ long-running legal battle with Facebook is significant for widening legal jurisdiction against Facebook Ireland by granting the right of Schrems to take legal action against Facebook Ireland in the Austrian courts.

Facebook Ireland, headquartered in Dublin, unsuccessfully argued th...

January 5, 2018,  Consumer behaviour, EU General Data Protection Regulation, European Commission, Henley Business School, Legal update, News, Thought Leadership  No comments

Apple has just issued a second customer warning for owners of its iPhones, iPads and MAC products that they are affected by a processor flaw that could leave them vulnerable to hackers.

The US tech giant urged its millions of customers to only download software from trusted sources after the security vulnerabilities, known as Meltdown and Spectre, were revealed on Wednesday.

According to the Press Association (PA News), there’s no evidence that the security flaws that affect computer processors built by Intel and ARM – have so far been exploited by hackers, although companies including Microsoft have been working to provide urgent fixes.

Apple says it had released software ...

December 6, 2017,  Brand marketing, data protection, EU General Data Protection Regulation, News, Thought Leadership  No comments

December 2, 2017,  Data Protection Act 1998, EU General Data Protection Regulation, Legal update, Thought Leadership  No comments

Supermarket giant Morrisons has been found vicariously liable for the actions of a rogue member of staff who stole the personal data of thousands of workers and posted it online in revenge for disciplinary action taken against him by the company.

On 1 December 2017, Mr Justice Langstaff at the High Court ruled that Morrisons was vicariously liable for the personal data breach that leaked their names, addresses, salaries, bank account details, national insurance and other sensitive personal data on line.

In July 2015, former internal auditor Andrew Skelton was found guilty at Bradford Crown Court of fraud, securing unauthorised access to computer material and disclosing person...

November 7, 2017,  EU General Data Protection Regulation, Innovation, Thought Leadership  One comment

On Tuesday 31 October, President Donald J Trump gave the executive order to release previously withheld files relating to the 1963 assassination of John F Kennedy.

Among the many black and white TV news clips of speeches made by JFK that I’ve been watching across several TV networks that are marking one of the darkest hours in American history, one sentence in particular struck a chord with me and perhaps many of you reading this too:

“In each of us there’s a private hope and dream which, if fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone.”

That may sound like a lofty ideal, but I sincerely believe that as data protection professionals we all need to have the c...

October 20, 2017,  Thought Leadership  No comments

The cost of compliance is much less than the price of failure.

To most readers of my blog, this adage may sound obvious, with respect to the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation 2016/679). Nonetheless, it’s advice isn’t universally observed.

Some months ago, I was talking to a director of a well-known European financial services company about the impact Regulation 2016/679 would have on the business. But I wasn’t fully prepared for his response. “We can afford to pay the fines,” he said.

Wow!

There then followed a couple of seconds of silence as I composed myself...

October 10, 2017,  data protection, EU General Data Protection Regulation, Henley Business School, News, Social marketing practice, Thought Leadership  No comments

Major personal data breaches are happening at a rate of one a day – Equifax, BUPA, Deloitte, NHS, Nottingham County Council, Islington Council, HCA Healthcare and many, many more. Wanna Cry? (I bet you do).

Do you live in fear of whether you’re next? It doesn’t have to be this way. We are transitioning to an era in which individuals have both the skills and the opportunities to choose how they manage and share their personal data to achieve a range of beneficial outcomes.

Digital evangelists like Stephen Deadman, Global Deputy Chief Privacy Officer at Facebook remains optimistic about the future, rather than terrified by it...