Data Compliance Europe

02/11/2020

Like a fractal, there's always more complications to Brexit, the closer you look. I recently discussed one of the most pressing problems- the coming of a digital border on the island of Ireland.

A special edition of the "Talk Data to Me" Podcast where Daragh and Peter are joined by Simon McGarr of DataCompliance Europe and McGarr Solicitors to talk about the potentially tricky challenges ahea

05/10/2017

Simon’s been in Toronto this week to give a conference keynote talk on GDPR’s impact outside the EU.

One of his points has been that it’s not helpful to talk about data as ‘the new oil’.

It’s more like the new uranium. Potentially powerful, yes. But also very dangerous to store, risky to use and potentially catastrophic if it leaks.

14/09/2017

Simon quoted here discussing the significance of Data Protection as a culture change in an organisation, not as an IT function. AIB bank suffered a data breach after client information was printed out and taken out of a branch to a meeting by an employee.

You can't buy a software or security tool to save you once that's happened. GDPR compliance- and data protection in general- needs an awareness of the sensitivity of the data an organisation holds at every level of an organisation, and built into procedures. Mistakes happen, but it appears this was a procedural flaw at base.

Bank notifies Data Protection Commissioner and customers after details are mislaid

13/09/2017

Simon has been doing some public advocacy around the introduction of a Public Services ID card described as "compulsory but not mandatory" by Government Ministers.

Here, he debates its legality with Irish Times Columnist Noel Whelan

After months of controversy, we're asking is the Public Services Card a major privacy pothole, or just a storm in a teacup? We'll discussed the changes with ...

02/08/2017

Yesterday, Simon was back on Today FM's The Last Word, discussing the legal significance (and, post-GDPR, financial significance) of data collected by Irish technologist and designer Youssef Sarhan which pointed towards strange correlations between topics discussed face to face and ads which subsequently appeared in people's Facebook feeds.

You can listen back to "Is your phone spying on you? here:

http://www.todayfm.com/The-Last-Word-with-Matt-Cooper/podcasts/75408/Is-Your-Phone-Spying-On-You

Could our phones be listening to our conversations? Technologist Yusuf Sarhan and solicitor Simon McGarr...

06/07/2017

Highlights from Data Compliance Europe & Digital Rights Ireland's submissions to Oireachtas Committee on Justice. The Committee are examining the Government's new Heads of Bill on Data Protection. The Bill's intended to give effect in Irish law to the

https://youtu.be/pE9Y9N0vB44

DRI submissions at the Justice Committee on Data Protection Bill

04/07/2017

Simon was on Newstalk's Drivetime programme yesterday afternoon to discuss a proposal by a Dublin City Councillor to publish lists of people who had been clamped and paid their fines.

It was a chance to explain how institutions of all sorts, state or private, can benefit from examining any new data use plan with a Privacy Impact Assessment, before going out into the public gaze with it.

You can hear the piece here, from 12.20 onwards.

http://www.newstalk.com/listen_back/81889/37236/03rd_July_2017_-_Newstalk_Drive_Part_1/ #

Fast paced news and current affairs talk show presented by Chris Donoghue and Sarah McInerney.

03/07/2017

Again: Personal Data isn't the new oil. It's the new nuclear waste- expensive to store, very dangerous if leaked. Question if you need to store it, use it, collect it.

Wetherspoons decided the risk of keeping or using their email list- over 650,000 contacts- wasn't worth it in the face of the fines and regime after GDPR comes into force next May.

If you'd like assistance making that assessment about your data stores, contact is about our Gap Analysis service.

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/wetherspoons-email-database-gdpr

The pub chain says it will stop sending newsletters via email – but why?

28/06/2017

Simon was on Today FM's the Last Word yesterday with Matt Cooper to discuss the Data Protection implications of the Department of Education's new plans to pass a law permitting the sharing of kids data between schools.

We touched on the , the Primary Online Database and other live topics.

One of the most interesting issues is that this decision was taken without a public consultation phase- as would likely have happened if the Department had first performed a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) of their new legislation.

The GDPR will require certain projects to complete a PIA before making a procedural change that may impact on the privacy of others.

You can hear the interview here from 7'35" onwards.

https://www.todayfm.com/The-Last-Word-with-Matt-Cooper/listen-back/5530/Wednesday_28_June_2017_16:30_19:00

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27/06/2017

The GDPR requires that organisations be prepared to find any and all personal data relating to an individual, collect it up and deliver copies of it all to them within 30 days.

It's the organisation's job to make sure that it's as easy as finding *this* needle in a haystack.