Privacy

Ireland's data protection watchdog handled over 10,000 cases last year, a nine per cent increase on the previous year. The Data Protection Commission's annual report for 2020 reveals that the watchdog handled a total of 10,151 cases last year, up from 9,337 in 2019.

The European Commission is expected to decide this week that data protection standards are high enough in the UK to allow personal data transfers between the UK and the EU to continue. The adequacy assessment has huge significance for businesses operating across the UK and the EU. It has attracted e

The Data Protection Commission's (DPC) ability to enforce GDPR rules in Ireland has been undermined by years-long delays to a crucial IT project, privacy campaigners have warned. Documents obtained by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) under the Freedom of Information Act show that the wat

Seán O'Donnell, partner at ByrneWallace, examines the 14 principles underpinning Ireland's regulator's approach to data processing. On 18 December 2020 the Data Protection Commission published its draft Fundamentals for a Child-Oriented Approach to Data Processing. Building on existing guidan

Four in ten Irish businesses made no changes to their cookie policies last year following new guidance from the Data Protection Commission, according to a new survey by Mason Hayes & Curran LLP. The law firm has published the results of its Data Privacy in 2021 survey, which was carried out at a

Ireland has one of the highest rates of data breaches in the EU, according to a new report from global law firm DLA Piper. According to its latest annual survey of GDPR fines and data breaches, a total of 6,615 data breaches were reported to Ireland's Data Protection Commission in the past 12 months

Ireland's data protection watchdog has imposed a €450,000 fine on Twitter following a landmark inquiry regarding a data breach. The Data Protection Commission found that the social media giant infringed Article 33(1) and 33(5) of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in terms of a fa

Apple is in breach of European privacy law by tracking iPhone users without their consent, privacy activist Max Schrems has said. The campaigner, who previously waged a legal war against Facebook, forcing it to change the way it transfers data, has now filed complaints to Spanish and German authorit

Andrew Desmond, associate at William Fry, examines a recent investigation by the Data Protection Commission (DPC). The Data Protection Commission has found a security system used in Irish prisons to be in breach of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) after investigating a complaint by a pr

Ireland's data protection watchdog is set to bear a "very heavy financial burden" after a judge ruled that it should pay costs in the landmark case brought by privacy campaigner Max Schrems which led to the striking down of the US-EU Privacy Shield agreement. In her ruling on costs on Friday, Ms Jus

Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) has launched two inquiries into the processing of children's data by Instagram, part of Facebook Ireland Limited. The DPC said it had received a number of complaints concerning the processing of children's personal data on Instagram and had identified poten

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) continues to suffer from "indefensible" underfunding, a privacy expert has said. The watchdog has been allocated around €19 million in the 2021 Budget, a 13 per cent increase on the previous year.

Privacy and data rights activist Max Schrems has brought a High Court challenge in Dublin aimed at halting the Data Protection Commissioner's probe into Facebook Ireland's transfer of data to its US-based parent. Mr Schrems has brought judicial review proceedings because of his real and immediate co

Personal data transfers between the UK and the EU after Brexit are "in jeopardy" because the UK's privacy watchdog does not meet strict EU standards, privacy experts have warned. The need for the UK to pass an adequacy assessment to allow frictionless data transfers to continue after Brexit was high

Social media giant Facebook has played down suggestions that it will withdraw from Europe despite suggesting in an Irish court filing that it may have to. Yvonne Cunnane, Facebook's associate general counsel, told the High Court that it was "not clear" how the company could "continue to provide the