Privacy

The Supreme Court has held that the seizure of computer devices from an accused murderer’s home was unlawful in circumstances where gardaí failed to seek authority from the District Court when applying for a search warrant. While the gardaí always intended to search the digital c

Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) imposed punitive fines of over €1 billion last year, more than two-thirds of all fines issued across the European Union. The watchdog's 2022 annual report also details multiple reprimands and/or compliance orders supervised and enforced following the c

Google has reversed a decision to remove search results relating to a man's serious criminal conviction in Ireland under "right to be forgotten" laws. The search giant had removed links relating to the 2010 conviction of Mark McCormick, who admitted to running six brothels in Dublin and was sentence

The High Court has granted leave to Bank of Ireland to lodge a tender in proceedings on condition that the tender only becomes effective after the conclusion of the discovery process. The lodgement application had been made after the discovery process had begun and the bank claimed that it wished to

Mark D Finan BL and Rose Caroline McGrath BL explore a new development in litigation seeking damages arising from data breaches in Ireland. Data Protection Day 2023 brought a new development in litigation seeking damages arising from data breaches in Ireland pursuant to Article 82 GDPR and s.117 Dat

The Circuit Court has granted a stay on a plaintiff’s proceedings against Fastway Couriers for damages arising from a GDPR breach until the determination of preliminary references by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The defendants brought the application claiming that the pre

WhatsApp has said it will appeal a decision by Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) to impose a €5.5 million fine for forcing users to consent to the processing of their personal data for service improvement and security. A spokesperson for the messaging platform, which is already challen

Ireland's privacy watchdog is facing a court battle over its "untenable" decision that a Facebook data leak did not amount to a data breach. The Data Protection Commission (DPC) last year imposed a €265 million fine on Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (MPIL) following its investigation into the d

Mason Hayes & Curran partner Colin Monaghan and associate Anthony Strogen look at recent case law developments concerning data breach claims and the threshold for awarding compensation. Prior to the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), an individual whose information wa

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) has imposed fines totalling €390 million on Meta Ireland in connection with its Facebook and Instagram platforms. Meta has said it strongly disagrees with the DPC's findings and will "appeal the substance of the decision" in the Irish courts.

Ireland's data protection watchdog has launched an inquiry into media reports of a Twitter data breach affecting millions of users. In a statement issued just before Christmas, the Data Protection Commission (DPC) said it had launched an own-volition inquiry pursuant to section 110 of the Data Prote

A senior Irish lawyer has criticised a European court ruling restricting access to information about company ownership on privacy grounds as "a gift to money launderers and their credulous allies". Paul Egan SC, a senior consultant at Mason Hayes & Curran LLP and chair of the government's Compan

Facebook owner Meta is set to be told it cannot force users of its services to agree to personalised ads in what privacy campaigners have said will be a "huge blow to Meta's profits in the EU". The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) yesterday said it had adopted three binding decisions addressing

The Circuit Court has dismissed an appeal from a decision by the Data Protection Commission that a verbal disclosure by a barrister regarding a conflict of interest did not breach their GDPR obligations. The appeal was taken by a former client of the barrister who claimed that the disclosure breache

Matheson partners Kate McKenna and Davinia Brennan explain coming changes to Ireland's data retention regime. New Irish data retention laws governing the retention and access of electronic communications data are in the pipeline following two fresh data retention judgments from the Court of Justice