Discussing privacy law with Roy Greenslade and Max Clifford

I took part in Sunday Sequence on BBC Radio Ulster yesterday, discussing privacy law with Roy Greenslade, who’s professor of journalism at City University as well as being a former newspaper editor, and Max Clifford. The discussion starts at 34’20”, and lasts for about 20 minutes. I think what Roy Greenslade says about this, both […]

Mosley v UK

Max Mosley has lost his case in the European Court of Human Rights, in which he claimed that the UK breached his right to respect for private life under article 8 of the ECHR by failing to impose a legal duty on the media to notify him in advance of a story that violated his […]

Breaching so-called “superinjunctions” on Twitter: is this how low we’ve sunk?

The BBC has reported that someone on Twitter has purported to “out” a number of celebrities who have supposedly obtained “superinjunctions” to protect their privacy. It’s unlikely of course that all of them are “superinjunctions” at all, which are injunctions the existence of which cannot be reported. And who knows whether any of what’s been […]

Privacy law: there’s no need for “clarification”

Following on from my post the other day about privacy and the notorious “back door”, I’m surprised Lord McNally has been taken in sufficiently to propose new privacy legislation to “clarify” the law and remove some of its dangerous and onerous aspects, to use his words. He obviously wants privacy protection watered down. I explained […]

Privacy law “through the back door”

I’m baffled by the prevalence of the belief among journalists that judges are bringing in a privacy law “by the back door”. It’s the phrase the Telegraph uses when reporting the fact that the golfer and Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie has obtained an injunction (or in newspaper language, a “gagging order”) to prevent a […]

Defending the DNA database

I wrote at Comment is Free yesterday, defending the government’s proposals on retention of DNA profiles in the Crime and Security Bill, and generally arguing against the idea that profile retention is a major invasion of human rights: … much queasiness about storing DNA profiles is based on a vague perception that they contain something […]

Debbie Purdy, the Lords and assisted suicide: the easy way out?

I’ve been slow in reacting to the Lords’ final judgment yesterday in R (Purdy) v DPP, partly because I was in Cambridge, but partly because I’ve been worrying at the judgment since I heard the news reports yesterday, and even more so since I read it. I’ve been worrying about what’s wrong with it. Because […]

Privacy: Max Mosley is right

Max Mosley appeared before the Culture, Media and Sport Committee yesterday to talk about the exposure of his private life by the News of the World last year, his successful privacy action and the law on privacy generally. Mosley argued that newspapers should be required, before publishing stories like his, to contact the subject of […]

S and Marper v UK

The European Court of Human Rights has today ruled against the UK in this important case about retention of DNA samples and profiles as well as fingerprints. S had been charged with attempted burglary when 11 in 2001; he was acquitted, but his DNA was retained under section 64 of PACE. Marper was charged with […]

Reactions to Dacre

There’s been quite a lot of blawg talk about Paul Dacre’s speech, apart from here. I’m especially interested in Simon Myerson’s good advice to would-be barristers about avoiding judge-bashing, as disrespectful of the rule of law and ultimately of democracy. Of course you can criticise judges’ legal reasoning – this blog would be in trouble […]