I think Charlton Heston put it best: Damn them all to hell! They finally went and did it! They blew it up!” That was my immediate reaction to the Brexit news this morning. A campaign that was polluted by lies and misinformation from the pro-Brexit side, including a bold claim that voting to leave the …
Over on the company site I’ve written a piece on Data Retention policies that references the Symphisiotomy redress scheme as a case study in data retention planning (not in a good way). For those who didn’t spot it yesterday and who are glued to the national media that isn’t referencing this huge story, let me …
In the Western world our rights are under attack. In the UK for example the policy of the Tory party is to abolish the Human Rights Act (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21726612). In the fast changing world of data and information private companies and governments alike go to great lengths to peer inside our digital lives in a manner …
Today’s Irish Times has a ‘news’ story about a man who, during the boom, sold his home and land for €3million and has just bought it back for €215,000. Fair play to him. He sold a property and home he loved and made a profit. Now he can have his cake and eat it, returning …
Fergal Crehan and I drafted the original version of this op-ed piece on the evening of the 5th of June, completing it on the 6th and submitting it immediately to the Irish Times as a topical opinion piece. The article was originally drafted in response to the EU Council of Ministers publication of proposed amendments …
So, David Hall is challenging the provisions of the Personal Insolvency Act regarding the publication of details on public registers. I’m quoted in this Irish Times article about it. My comments, which I expand on here as an update to my earlier post, where to the effect that: The publication of detailed personal data on …
Coverage of some of the structures of the Insolvency Service of Ireland has been rattling through my ears while I work the past few days. What I’ve heard gives rise to an unsettling feeling that the architects of the scheme have decided that the insolvent are a form of unter-mensch for whom some of the …
Yes. It is a pity that Guthrie cards will be destroyed. Yes, there is potentially valuable data held on them. But there is also a fundamental right to Personal Data Privacy under EU Treaties and there is that pesky thing called the Data Protection Acts/Data Protection Directive. The DPC investigated the issue of heel prick …
An opinion piece by Joe Humphreys in the Irish Times on the 9th of January (which I can link to here thanks to the great work of McGarr Solicitors) discusses anonymous comment on-line. In doing so he presents an argument that would appear to suggest that persons taking a nom de plume in debate are …
The Official Twitter Account of the Irish EU Presidency (@eu2013ie) tweeted earlier today about recipes. That gave me a little food for thought given the subject matter I posted on yesterday. Ireland will hold the Presidency of the EU in the first half of 2013. Part of what we will be tasked with is guiding …