GDPR Software

News

  • 2023-10-03 - ICO News ICO publishes guidance to ensure lawful monitoring in the workplace
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is calling on organisations to consider both their legal obligations and their workers’ rights before they implement any monitoring in the workplace.
  • 2023-09-28 - ICO News Information Commissioner calls on public authorities to stop using spreadsheets in FOI responses
    Advice comes following recent high profile data breaches.
  • 2023-09-27 - ICO News Data breaches put domestic abuse victims’ lives at risk, UK Information Commissioner warns
    Warning comes after the ICO reprimands seven organisations in the past 14 months for data breaches affecting victims of domestic abuse.
  • 2023-09-21 - ICO News “This needs to be dealt with.” - ICO issues Enforcement Notice to City of York Council over FOI backlog
    Information Commissioner issues Enforcement Notice relating to backlog of 261 FOI requests
  • 2023-09-20 - ICO News ICO issues half a million pounds in new fines as fight to tackle illegal nuisance calls continues
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued fines totalling £590,000 to five companies for collectively making 1.9 million unwanted marketing calls which targeted the elderly and people with vulnerabilities.
  • 2023-09-14 - ICO News Share information to protect children and young people at risk, urges UK Information Commissioner
    Organisations will not get in trouble if they share information to protect children and young people at risk of serious harm, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has promised.
  • 2023-09-13 - ICO News Former social services council employee fined for unlawfully accessing sensitive personal data
    A former family intervention officer at St Helens Borough Council has been sentenced for unlawfully accessing social services records.
  • 2023-09-12 - ICO News UK Information Commissioner and NCSC CEO sign Memorandum of Understanding
    The UK Information Commissioner, John Edwards, and the Chief Executive of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), Lindy Cameron, have today signed a joint Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that sets out how both organisations will cooperate.
  • 2023-09-07 - ICO News ICO to review period and fertility tracking apps as poll shows more than half of women are concerned over data security
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is reviewing period and fertility apps as new figures show more than half of women have concerns over data security.
  • 2023-08-30 - ICO News ICO publishes new guidance on sending bulk communications by email
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has today issued a warning to organisations to use alternatives to the blind carbon copy (BCC) email function when sending emails containing sensitive personal information, following a catalogue of business blunders.
  • 2023-08-24 - ICO News Joint statement on data scraping and data protection
    The Information Commissioner’s Office and eleven other data protection and privacy authorities from around the world have today published a joint statement calling for the protection of people’s personal data from unlawful data scraping taking place on social media sites.
  • 2023-08-22 - ICO News One in three young people falling prey to ‘text pests’ as ICO calls for victims to come forward
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has today launched a call for victims of so-called ‘text pests’ to come forward to help the regulator gather evidence of the impact of this illegal behaviour.
  • 2023-08-18 - ICO News ICO consultation on the draft biometric data guidance
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is producing guidance on biometric data and biometric technologies.
  • 2023-08-10 - ICO News “We are continuing to deliver for the public” – ICO publishes practice recommendations and enforcement notices on FOI
    The ICO has today published action on five public bodies – Liverpool City Council, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, the Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, the Ministry of Defence and the Environment Agency - for failures to meet expected standards in responding to Freedom of Information Act requests.
  • 2023-08-09 - ICO News ICO and CMA: Harmful online design encourages consumers to hand over personal information
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) are calling for businesses to stop using harmful website designs that can trick consumers into giving up more of their personal data than they would like.
  • 2023-08-02 - ICO News ICO warns of email data breach risk as it issues two reprimands
    The Information Commissioner’s Office has reprimanded two Northern Irish organisations for disclosing people’s information inappropriately via email.
  • 2023-08-02 - ICO News ‘Hang up, report them to us – you don’t owe nuisance callers your time’
    ICO advice to people receiving cold calls, as government looks to ban cold calls on financial products.
  • 2023-08-01 - ICO News ICO reprimands NHS Lanarkshire for sharing patient data via WhatsApp
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a reprimand to NHS Lanarkshire, following staff’s unauthorised use of WhatsApp to share patients’ personal data over the course of two years.
  • 2023-07-31 - ICO News ICO reprimands NHS Lanarkshire for sharing patient data via WhatsApp
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a reprimand to NHS Lanarkshire, following staff’s unauthorised use of WhatsApp to share patients’ personal data over the course of two years.
  • 2023-07-13 - ICO News ICO backs new data sharing schemes to protect gamblers from harm
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has today backed proposals for the financial sector to share data with gambling companies to protect customers from unaffordable losses.
  • 2023-07-13 - ICO News ICO Sandbox publishes exit report following work with the Betting and Gaming Council to reduce incidents of gambling related harm
    The ICO’s Regulatory Sandbox aims to support organisations who are creating products and services which utilise personal data in innovative and safe ways. The Betting and Gaming Council entered the Sandbox to explore the gambling industry’s development and trial of a Single Customer View (SCV) solution. The trial built on the work previously undertaken by the Gambling Commission within the Sandbox in 2021. The SCV solution developed by the BGC and the participating operators (Entain, William Hill, 888, Gamesys, Bet365 and Flutter) aims to enable a more unified and proactive intervention by gambling operators to reduce incidents of gambling related harm. Following the completion of the Sandbox pilot, the data-sharing project – now known as GamProtect – will be implemented across the gambling industry with support from the Betting and Gaming Council.
  • 2023-07-06 - ICO News ICO submits Data protection and journalism code of practice to the Secretary of State
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published a code of practice about using personal information for journalism (the code), and formally submitted it to the Secretary of State at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
  • 2023-06-30 - ICO News “They are failing their residents.” - ICO takes action against Croydon Council for failing to respond to Freedom of Information requests
    Council hit with enforcement notice for “repeated, systemic” failures on information law.
  • 2023-06-19 - ICO News ICO urges organisations to harness the power of data safely by using privacy enhancing technologies
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is recommending organisations to start using privacy enhancing technologies (PETs) to share people’s personal information safely, securely and anonymously.
  • 2023-06-15 - ICO News Don’t be blind to AI risks in rush to see opportunity – ICO reviewing key businesses’ use of generative AI
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) will today call for businesses to address the privacy risks generative AI can bring before rushing to adopt the technology – with tougher checks on whether organisations are compliant with data protection laws.
  • 2023-06-08 - ICO News ICO warns of “real danger” of discrimination in new technologies that monitor the brain
    The Information Commissioner’s Office is warning that newly emerging neurotechnologies risk discriminating against people if those groups are not put at the heart of their development.
  • 2023-06-08 - ICO News Two energy firms fined combined £250,000 for making unlawful marketing calls
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined two energy companies a total of £250,000 for bombarding people and businesses on the UK’s ‘do not call’ register with unlawful marketing calls.
  • 2023-06-02 - ICO News ICO reprimands Thames Valley Police for releasing witness details to suspected criminals
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a reprimand to Thames Valley Police (TVP) after details were released which led to suspected criminals learning the address of a witness.
  • 2023-05-24 - ICO News ICO issues Ministry of Justice with reprimand after confidential personal information left in prison holding area
    The ICO has issued a formal reprimand to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) after confidential waste documents were left in an unsecured prison holding area.
  • 2023-05-24 - ICO News “It’s important not to get caught out.” - New SARs guidance for employers issued
    ICO publishes new guide on responding to subject access requests
  • 2023-05-16 - ICO News ICO fines two businesses £180,000 for making unlawful marketing calls
    The Information Commissioners’ Office (ICO) has issued fines totalling £180,000 for two companies that made more than 480,000 unlawful marketing calls to businesses signed up with the UK’s “Do not call” register.
  • 2023-05-15 - ICO News ICO takes action against both Plymouth City Council and Norfolk County Council for failing to respond to information access requests
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has reprimanded two councils that have failed to respond to the public when asked for personal information held about them – known as a Subject Access Request (SAR).
  • 2023-05-09 - ICO News ICO takes action against Shropshire Council for failing to respond to Freedom of Information requests
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued an enforcement notice to Shropshire Council for its poor handling of requests made under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000.
  • 2023-04-25 - ICO News ICO launches FOI toolkit topic to help public bodies deal with vexatious requests
    Continuing with its commitment to improving freedom of information (FOI) services, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has launched the third topic in its FOI toolkit to enable public authorities to self-assess how they deal with vexatious requests.
  • 2023-04-18 - ICO News ICO reprimands Surrey Police and Sussex Police for recording more than 200,000 phone calls without people’s knowledge
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a reprimand to both Surrey Police and Sussex Police, following the rollout of an app that recorded phone conversations and unlawfully captured personal data.
  • 2023-04-14 - ICO News Online recruitment firm fined £130,000 for sending 107 million spam emails targeting jobseekers
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined Join The Triboo Limited £130,000 for what it called a “egregious” violation of the law.
  • 2023-04-04 - ICO News ICO fines TikTok £12.7 million for misusing children’s data
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a £12,700,000 fine to TikTok Information Technologies UK Limited and TikTok Inc (TikTok) for a number of breaches of data protection law, including failing to use children’s personal data lawfully.
  • 2023-04-04 - ICO News ICO Sandbox publishes its exit report following work with ‘Good With’ – a startup aiming to give young adults fairer access to financial products and services
    Good With, a fintech and edtech start-up, entered the Sandbox as part of its work to develop mobile applications which will help educate young adults on personal finance. It plans to develop a Financial Virtual Assistant (FVA) app which will combine various personal data sources to produce a ‘financial readiness score’. Good With hopes this readiness score will help to provide the FVA’s users (18-24-year-olds), who might struggle to obtain credit via traditional methods, with fairer access to financial products and services. The app is currently still in a beta testing phase.
  • 2023-03-30 - ICO News “A crucial learning experience.” - ICO calls for highest standards in HIV services after NHS Highland reprimand
    The Information Commissioner’s Office has issued a reprimand to NHS Highland for a “serious breach of trust” after a data breach involving those likely to be accessing HIV services.
  • 2023-03-28 - ICO News ICO to prioritise Freedom of Information complaints with significant public interest
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has announced a new approach to prioritise complaints made under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) where there is significant public interest.
  • 2023-03-22 - ICO News ICO takes action against Lewisham Council for failing to respond to hundreds of Freedom of Information requests
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued an enforcement notice to the London Borough of Lewisham Council for failing to respond to hundreds of overdue requests made under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000.
  • 2023-03-16 - ICO News ICO issues reprimand to the Metropolitan Police Service for inadequate handling of files related to organised crime groups
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a reprimand to the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) following several issues identified around their uploading, amending and deleting of various criminal intelligence files relating to Organised Crime Groups (OCG).
  • 2023-03-16 - ICO News ICO reaches agreement with Easylife Ltd
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has reached an agreement with Easylife Ltd (Easylife) to reduce the monetary penalty notice (MPN), issued for breaching the Data Protection Act 2018, to £250,000.
  • 2023-03-13 - ICO News ICO shares resources to help designers embed data protection by default
    The ICO has produced new guidance to help UX designers, product managers and software engineers embed data protection into their products and services from the start.
  • 2023-03-03 - ICO News ICO and Australian Communications and Media Authority sign Memorandum of Understanding
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which formalises their commitment to work together on protecting people from unwanted nuisance calls and spam messaging.
  • 2023-02-28 - ICO News ICO publishes SME Data Essentials pilot evaluation report
    The ICO is here to help SMEs unlock the value of the personal information they hold, responsibly.
  • 2023-02-22 - ICO News Information Commissioner's Office calls for accountants to play their role in SMEs data protection compliance
    Regulator publishes key questions for accountants to ask SME clients to ensure they get data protection compliance right.
  • 2023-02-20 - ICO News Tribunal rules on Experian appeal against ICO action
    The First-Tier Tribunal (Information Rights) has ruled on the ICO’s action to require Experian Limited to change how it handles people’s personal data. The Judgment supported aspects of the ICO's decision, while allowing Experian's appeal in other areas.
  • 2023-02-17 - ICO News Former 111 call centre advisor fined for illegally accessing medical records
    A former 111 call centre advisor has been found guilty and fined for illegally accessing the medical records of a child and his family.
  • 2023-02-16 - ICO News Business fined £200,000 for making over 1.7million unlawful calls
    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has today fined It’s OK Ltd £200,000 for what it called a “sustained and exploitative campaign” of nuisance calls.