News

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.

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.

ICO publishes new guide on responding to subject access requests

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined Join The Triboo Limited £130,000 for what it called a “egregious” violation of the law.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

The ICO is here to help SMEs unlock the value of the personal information they hold, responsibly.

Regulator publishes key questions for accountants to ask SME clients to ensure they get data protection compliance right.

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.

A former 111 call centre advisor has been found guilty and fined for illegally accessing the medical records of a child and his family.

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.

The Information Commissioner’s Office sets the standard for ensuring games conform with data protection law. 93% of UK children play video games. Games providers should identify if their…

A former employee of breakdown services company RAC has plead guilty and been fined for the stealing of data of victims of road traffic accidents.

ICO offers advice to the UK’s five and a half million SMEs

The ICO is encouraging developers to consider privacy at an early stage when implementing new technologies to maintain public trust and confidence.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined five companies a total of £435,000 for making nearly half a million unlawful marketing calls to people registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has launched a consultation on how it prioritises the complaints it receives about public bodies’ handling of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a reprimand to the Department for Education (DfE) following the prolonged misuse of the personal information of up to 28 million children.

The UK Information Commissioner has agreed to reduce the £500,000 Monetary Penalty Notice (MPN) imposed on the Cabinet Office in 2021 in relation to the New Year Honours data breach to £50,000, which the Cabinet Office has agreed to pay, reflecting our new approach to working more effectively with public authorities

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is warning organisations to assess the public risks of using emotion analysis technologies , before implementing these systems. Organisations that do not act responsibly, posing risks to vulnerable people, or fail to meet ICO expectations will be investigated.

The UK Information Commissioner has warned that companies are leaving themselves open to cyber attack by ignoring crucial measures like updating software and training staff.

The ICO has issued a formal reprimand to the Home Office, after sensitive documents were found at a public London venue.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined Easylife Ltd £1,350,000 for using personal information of 145,400 customers to predict their medical condition and target them with health-related products without their consent.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined four companies a total of £370,000 for making over 820,000 home improvement predatory marketing calls to people registered with the Telephone Preference Service.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has taken action against seven organisations who have failed to respond to the public when asked for personal information held about them, known as a Subject Access Request (SAR).

This is the fourth in a series of updates from Warren Seddon, Director of FOI and Transparency. His blog posts provide a regular update on our FOI work and share key learnings to help practitioners and the wider FOI community understand our developing thinking and carry out their roles.

Information can drive everything in our lives from healthcare to job opportunities to the decisions made for and about us.

TikTok could face a £27 million fine after an ICO investigation found that the company may have breached UK data protection law, failing to protect children’s privacy when using the TikTok platform.

Starting university or further education can be an exciting time, but for some it can also be a difficult and anxious transition.  

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has launched a second consultation on a draft code of practice about using personal data for journalism (the code).

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued an enforcement notice to the Department for International Trade (DIT) and a practice recommendation to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), for persistent failures to respond to information access requests within the statutory time limit.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published draft guidance on privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) to help organisations unlock the potential of data by putting a data protection by design approach into practice.  

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined Halfords Limited £30,000 for sending 498,179 unsolicited marketing emails to people without their consent.

The ICO is marking the anniversary of the groundbreaking Children’s code, that has changed how children are treated online.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has commenced criminal proceedings against eight individuals over the alleged unlawful accessing and obtaining of people’s personal information from vehicle repair garages to generate potential leads for personal injury claims.

A former health adviser has been found guilty of accessing medical records of patients without a valid legal reason.

Last week’s Data Protection Practitioners’ Conference 2022 brought together more than 3,000 data protection professionals from across the country. Didn’t manage to attend? Here’s five things you missed from the day. And look out in coming weeks as we publish videos of the speeches and seminars.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has set out a commitment to safeguard the information rights of the most vulnerable people, including regulatory work around children’s privacy, AI-driven discrimination, the use of algorithms within the benefits system and the impact of predatory marketing calls.