By Eduardo Ustaran

Legislative proposal—Further comments from regulator

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has published more commentary on the proposed amendments to the Data Protection Act 1998, as set out in the Coroners and Justice Bill. The comments were set out in an ICO memorandum to the House of Lords for consideration before the second reading of the bill on April 27. The ICO welcomes the amendments overall, but reiterates concerns about its enforcement powers.  

The ICO strongly believes that the proposed new power for it to serve assessment notices to check whether an organisation is complying with the Act should apply to all organisations, not just to public-sector bodies. The ICO is concerned that there is no sanction for non-compliance with an assessment notice. The ICO also considers that it should have power to serve an information notice on anyone who might hold relevant information, not just on a data controller

‘Common sense approach’ in approving Google Street View

Following concerns raised over privacy, the ICO has ruled that Google’s Street View service does not contravene UK data protection law. The ICO confirmed that it has received a number of complaints and enquiries about the service since its UK launch on March 19, including a complaint from UK privacy watchdog, Privacy International, which said the service is illegal and should be shut down. However, the ICO is satisfied that any privacy concerns are minimised through Google’s face- and licence plate-blurring technology. Users can also report concerns via a link on the Street View Web site.

David Evans, ICO senior data protection practice manager said: “As a regulator we take a pragmatic and common-sense approach. Any images of people’s faces or number plates should be blurred. We emphasised the importance of blurring these images to protect people’s privacy and limit privacy intrusion. Google must respond quickly to deletion requests and complaints, as it is doing at the moment. We will be watching closely to make sure this continues to be achieved in practice.”

High court approves U.S. data transfer in Madoff case

The Chancery Division of the High Court has approved the transfer of personal data to the United States to further ongoing legal proceedings against Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.

Section 4 of the UK Data Protection Act prohibits personal data transfers to countries outside the European Economic Area, unless that country ensures an ‘adequate’ level of protection. The United States is not deemed to have an adequate level of protection. However, Justice Lewison ruled that although such transfers are normally prohibited under the Act, certain exemptions apply when “the transfer is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest (and) for the purpose of, or in connection with, any legal proceedings (including prospective legal proceedings).”

Eduardo Ustaran is the head of Privacy and Information Law Group at Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP, based in London. He is a member of the IAPP Education Advisory Board, co-chair of KnowledgeNet London, editor of Data Protection Law & Policy and  co-author of E-Privacy and Online Data Protection. He may be reached at eduardo.ustaran@ffw.com.