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“Do as I say, not as I do”

It is difficult to miss the irony of the ICO’s first-awarded fine for nuisance calls since taking over the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), as reported in our earlier blog in December.

IT Protect Ltd., a Bognor Regis firm in the business of selling a call-blocking device that purportedly stops unwanted marketing calls, was fined £40,000 on 11 January by the ICO for making nuisance calls. After more than 30 complaints were received, the ICO investigated and found that IT Protect Ltd. had been making unsolicited marketing calls for more than a year to people registered with the TPS.
Continue Reading “Do as I say, not as I do”: A business specialising in blocking unsolicited marketing calls is fined for making unsolicited marketing calls

We are hosting a webinar on January 30, 2017, to discuss the new obligations global organisations with interests in Europe will need to meet to comply with the GDPR. With just over 16 months to go until the Regulation will be enforced, it is vital that you understand the requirements and that you are able…

Data protection procedures will require an overhaul for any company that offers goods and services, or tracks individuals, in the EU under the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to take effect from 25 May 2018. Given the changes in compliance requirements that the GDPR entails, it is vital that you use 2017 to audit…

TheCityUK and Marsh have jointly published a report urging UK financial and related professional services sectors to step up their efforts to address cyber risk. The report (headed “Cyber and the City”) suggests that cybersecurity is still not being given the priority it deserves, particularly given the substantial disruption, costs and reputational damage that can…

Following the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union, one thing is clear: the negotiations for the terms of the UK’s exit are likely to overlap with the implementation across the EU of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in May 2018.

We have prepared a client alert to lay out the facts as…

Following the CJEU’s judgment of October 2015 invalidating the European Commission’s Safe Harbor Decision, the Data Protection Authority Hamburg (“DPA Hamburg“) started investigations against 35 internationally operating companies in Hamburg. According to a press release of DPA Hamburg of 6 June 2016, these investigations revealed that the majority of the companies under investigation…

The options available to EU organisations for lawfully transferring personal data from Europe to the United States appear to be dwindling. In particular, there have been further setbacks to the approval of the Privacy Shield and, separately, a new legal challenge to the validity of EU model contract clauses. For more information click here to…

The UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport recently released a statement on cyber security, in which it urged businesses to take better care to protect against cyber criminals. This statement follows publication of its Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2016, which revealed that two-thirds of large businesses had suffered a cyber attack in the preceding year, and that the majority of such attacks involved viruses, spyware or malware. The survey also found that more than half of the top FTSE350 companies regarded cyber attacks as being the biggest threat to their business.

The costs associated with cyber attacks can be significant, often running into millions of pounds. The government advises that many such attacks could be avoided by implementing its cyber essentials scheme, which offers UK businesses of all sizes guidance on protection against cyber threats. One in four of the firms that had experienced cyber attacks encountered an attack at least once a month, yet the survey found the implementation of prevention strategies and contingency plans to be very rare.
Continue Reading Cyber Security Takes Centre Stage in UK Government’s Strategy