David Erdos
@daviderdos.bsky.social
Trinity Hall Fellow, Professor of Law & Open Society & CIPIL Co-Director Cambridge University. Interested in #dataprotection #GDPR information law, legal history & public and private international law. Viewpoints personal & RT≠endorsement
The HoC Defence Committee has contradicted the Information Commissioner's understanding that MoD #Afghan UK #GDPR #databreach was "a one-off occurrence following a failure to following [sic] usual checks", with MoD itself even admitting it occured "while officials were following agreed procedures"
Pleased to post a new working paper on C-199/24 Legal Newsdesk: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... This case explored the #GDPR position of Lexbase which, in return for payment, provides criminal & court judgment info from searches of those who had been subject to conviction in #Sweden 1/6
C-199/24 Legal Newsdesk limits Freedom of Expression under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
<p><i>C-199/24 </i>Legal Newsdesk<i> arose from the need to determine the position under the GDPR of a database which, in return for payment, provides both crim
papers.ssrn.com
DSIT will launch an "independent review into the culture, accountability & governance" of @iconews. This must be broad-based, transparent & lead to an accountable culture focused on delivering on ICO primary monitoring & enforcement duties parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/... UK #GDPR #FoI
Parliamentlive.tv
Science, Innovation and Technology Committee
parliamentlive.tv
John Edwards is gone but the impact of domineering & abusive behaviour at @infocommission.bsky.social may remain. There are indications this led to good & well-motivated people leaving & more broadly to extreme difficulties in challenging a cavalier approach to #dataprotection regulation.
Applications close TODAY for #dataprotection & #commonlaw systems position @trinityhallcamb.bsky.social & CIPIL @cambridgelaw.bsky.social. Please apply if interested & able to research in this exciting and topical area! www.trinhall.cam.ac.uk/about/vacanc... #Australia #Canada #NZ #HongKong #UK
WYNG Research Associate in Data Protection and Common Law Systems - Trinity Hall Cambridge
trinhall.cam.ac.uk
‘Going to the cloud’: renting servers, or integration of deeply proprietary services? “both options go by the same name, and orgs often slide from the first into the second without realizing the fundamental difference, until it’s too late” @ccs.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Cloud drift: how hyperscaler cloud computing shapes internet governance
When the Foundation for Internet Domain Registration in the Netherlands (SIDN) announced plans to migrate to Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2024, it sparked intense political debate about critical in...
tandfonline.com
www.linkedin.com/feed/update/... 0256/ cc: @daviderdos.bsky.social
I’ve Submitted a Formal Complaint to the ICO About Email Address Sharing by Online Platforms without Consent | Mike O'Neill
This pattern is in much wider use than online pharmacies. The majority of online retailers we have scanned include third-parties on their websites that collect email addresses used for tracking acros...
linkedin.com
📣We have issued a new @ssrn.bsky.social Legal Studies RPS (v16 #2) including articles by Timo Minssen, Mateo Aboy & Effy Vayena, Ira Chadha-Sridhar, @daviderdos.bsky.social and @mwgehring.bsky.social, Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger & Matheus Garcia: 🔗https://bit.ly/4tNFSm1 #LegalScholarship
New Article! In 1960 #Ireland enjoyed a strong, even if informal, external association with the Commonwealth in 1960 but by 1979 all significant #citizenship, #tariff, #monetary & #diplomatic arrangements were at an end: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... (also www.slideshare.net/slideshow/ir...)
We must all start calling out the absurd breaches of international law by the current US Government- this one clearly breaches UN obligations but few seem to call it out: Judge never reconsidered working at ICC despite sanctions www.rte.ie/news/2026/03...
Judge never reconsidered working at ICC despite sanctions
Kimberly Prost, a Canadian judge sanctioned by the US, says she has never reconsidered working at the International Criminal Court, even though it has led to her being shut out from most of the intern...
rte.ie
In 5yrs since it left EU #dataprotection framework & then enacted Data (Use & Access) Act (DUAA), the UK has shifted to a more business friendly approach. But largely through solidifing a limited enforcement stance as substantive #GDPR change is rather limited papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
On back of MPs letter about #TattleLife the UK ICO said it was investigating. But how can it regulate #onlineabuse when it failed to update its policy guidance for #GDPR despite saying it would do so for +5 yrs, then deleted this & now says it holds no info? More at inforrm.org/2026/03/31/e...
Although currently misfiled in the Information Commissioner's Office database as an enforcement notice, the ICO's £14.5M UK #GDPR fine against Reddit regarding an alleged failure of #agegating is now out: ico.org.uk/action-weve-... 1/2
Despite applying for membership in 1997, #Palestine is sadly absent from today's #Commonwealth Day. Not least given the British mandate origins of today’s tragedy, the C/w has a special responsibility which from 1967 to 1997 it did recognise. More at www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Palestine and the modern Commonwealth: past engagements and future membership?
All Commonwealth summit communiqués from the late 1960s through to the mid-1990s maintained a focus on the Palestinian conflict and highlighted approaches that could lead to its just resolution. Wh...
tandfonline.com
On #Commonwealth Day I'm pleased to reshare my new article on the history & current reality of C/w citizenship including how it might promote #business mobility, which is key to "unlocking prosperity together", this year's C/w theme: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... #multilateralism
Commonwealth citizenship: the decline and future of an amorphous concept
The post-War Commonwealth citizenship concept promised a post-imperial system of non-alien status and rights. Although the former Dominions maintained (and South Africa furthered) discriminatory po...
tandfonline.com
“Regulating #AI in a Changing World: #Oversight & #Enforcement”: Great to see video of Info Law & Policy Centre 2025 Conference keynote panel online. My talk focused on UK #dataprotection situation compared to #EU #GDPR experiences in #Italy & #Germany: lnkd.in/eNEeUEyW Summary notes below.
With over 40K #dataprotection complaints but just 2 fines totalling only £3.8m and no UK #GDPR enforcement notices in 2024/25, where has scrutiny and oversight of the ICO been? Pleased to post new working paper on this, also exploring avenues for positive intervention papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
The ICO's new policy to just "record" many UK #GDPR complaints is at serious odds with a @phsombudsman.bsky.social ruling from 11/2025 which held complainants had a right to "an assessment under section 165 of the DPA as to whether it is likely or unlikely that the processing" was lawful. 1/3
Here's my new open-access article providing first comprehensive #law & #policy analysis of #Commonwealth #citizenship from end of WW2 to the present, also looking at its proposed future as a mechanism to faciliate short-term esp. #business mobility: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
In the wake of the egregious #Afghan UK #GDPR #databreach and many others, Government Ministers are finally grilled before the Commons' Science, Innovation and Technology Committee today committees.parliament.uk/event/26457/... following on from ICO's appearance last October #DataProtection
10 February 2026 - Science, Innovation and Technology Committee - Oral evidence session - Committees - UK Parliament
09:00 - The Macmillan Room, Portcullis House
committees.parliament.uk
Lamentable that Information Commissioner will now refuse to investigate as opposed to "log" many (perhaps most) UK #GDPR complaints despite law stating that they must “investigate, to the extent, appropriate” & inform on “the outcome of the investigation” (art. 51(1)(f)). ico.org.uk/make-a-compl...
Lovely to see hard copy of new book on the #dataprotection & #humanitarian action & proud to have contributed chapter exploring role of the #unitednations guidelines from 1990 in shaping regulation here. It's all open access so please do check it out! www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-edi...
The Administrative Review Tribunal affirmed the Privacy Commissioner’s finding that Bunnings contravened Australian Privacy Principles (APP) 1 and 5 (notification of the collection of personal information) when rolling out FRT in its stores. See lnkd.in/etqgmguY.
Please join me at CIPIL's first seminar of 2026 this Thursday at 5.30pm with Tim Pitt-Payne KC talking at Cambridge Law Faculty on future of UK #GDPR automated individual decision-making rights under the Data (Use & Access) Act. More including Zoom link at www.cipil.law.cam.ac.uk/press/events...
CIPIL Evening Seminar: 'Should we care about GDPR Article 22?'
Speaker: Tim Pitt-Payne KC, 11 Kings Bench Walk Biography: Timothy Pitt-Payne KC is a leading information law silk based at 11KBW where he has practiced since 1990. He was appointed QC/KC in 2010.
cipil.law.cam.ac.uk
Following many egregious Government #dataprotection breaches over the past few years it's v disappointing to see ICO-Government MoU doubles-down on the ICO's flawed "public sector approach" which "priortises enagement" rather than corrective powers use: ico.org.uk/media2/m15nb...
Neglect of unique #Commonwealth collection never ceases to amaze! The old CW Institute was told not to give items to ailing Museum but did www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/nov/..., +140 Museum items were then illegally sold bbc.co.uk/news/uk-engl... before closure & now... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Hundreds of items taken in high-value Bristol Museum archive raid
More than 600 artefacts from the museum's British Empire and Commonwealth collection are taken.
bbc.co.uk
The final straw – the Information Commissioner's Office has decided NOT to investigate the Afghan data leak. It's time to investigate them! Over 70 organisations and experts back ORG's call for an inquiry into the regulator's chronic failure to enforce data law. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Civil liberties groups call for inquiry into UK data protection watchdog
Campaigners including Good Law Project describe ICO ‘collapse in enforcement activity’ after Afghan data breach
theguardian.com
What’s happened to the ICO’s enforcement regime? We’ve signed @openrightsgroup.org’s letter calling for an inquiry after the data regulator declined to formally investigate the MoD over the Afghan data breach. https://bit.ly/48gc9ZZ
Civil liberties groups call for inquiry into UK data protection watchdog
Campaigners including Good Law Project describe ICO ‘collapse in enforcement activity’ after Afghan data breach
theguardian.com
With no investigation even of Afghan #databreach despite grave risk to c100K & just 2 UK #GDPR fines in 24/25, I'm proud to join 70+ orgs & experts call on Commons Sci & Tech Committee, which oversees the ICO, to investigate #dataprotection enforcement probs www.openrightsgroup.org/press-releas...
70+ organisations and experts demand action over failing ICO
Over 70 civil society organisations, academics and data protection experts have urged the Chair of the Select Committee for Science Information and Technology to open an inquiry into the collapse in e...
openrightsgroup.org
