Recently in Privacy Law Category

The Attorney General Dominic Grieve has warned internet users that the law will crack down on abusers posting on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, in the same way as it would should such activity take place in the street.

The warning came after a series of high-profile cases involving postings made on micro-blogging sites. In one case a student who mocked football star Fabrice Muamba after he collapsed and nearly died in a game was jailed for 56 days for a racially aggravated public-order offence.

In another, a blogger who threatened to force excrement through the letterbox of a local councillor was handed 80-hours' community service.

The disgraced private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who was jailed after it was revealed that he had hacked the telephone messages coming out of Clarence House, has told the Supreme Court that it is 'completely wrong' to suggest that he is in any way protecting his former employer.

Mr Mulcaire is fighting an order stating he must reveal who at the News of the World instructed him to intercept voicemails on behalf of the paper.

He denied that his action to defend the order was motivated in any way by a desire to defend his former employers or to protect former colleagues at the paper.

The former first minister for Scotland, Lord McConnell has been informed by Scotland Yard that his phone and those of his son and daughter may have been hacked by disgraced former newspaper the News of the World.

The news has prompted Lord McConnell to commence legal action against the paper's publishers, News International.

The former leader of Scottish Labour was told by police investigating phone hacking that his details were found in paperwork recovered from Glenn Mulcaire.

Rupert Murdoch took to the stand at the Leveson enquiry yesterday to answer questions relating to media influence over politicians.

During a three-and-a-half hour session Mr Murdoch faced calls to reveal details of a perceived cover-up by his company, News International, over phone hacking.

The media tycoon was asked by Lord Justice Leveson to publish the advice given to News International by criminal law firm Burton Copeland, who conducted an internal investigation into phone hacking in 2007.

The newspaper regulator Ofcom has announced that it will investigate the hacking of private email accounts by journalists working at Sky.

The announcement comes after Sky admitted to the Leveson enquiry into media ethics that it had hacked the email account of John Darwin, the man who faked his own death and later reappeared living abroad. The organisation also admitted hacking the email account of a suspected paedophile.

The head of Sky News, John Ryley, admitted to the Leveson enquiry that his journalists had broken the law; however, in questioning he added: "I think it's highly unlikely in the future that Sky will consider breaking the law... I'm pretty much ruling it out."

Senior MPs representing both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have spoken out to criticise a proposed new law which would see internet service providers and phone companies obliged to surrender personal records to monitoring agencies.

The plans under consideration would allow the Government to know who people call, when they call, them and how long they spend on the phone. The Government would also be given powers to see what internet sites had been visited by individuals.

However, to access the content of emails or phone calls the authorities would still need a warrant from a court.

A committee of MPs and peers charged with reviewing UK privacy law in light of the phone hacking conducted by the News of the World has concluded that no additional legislation is required to protect the public or celebrities.

The Joint Committee of Privacy and Injunctions has concluded that new statute law would not clarify the legal position on privacy invasions, and that cases should still be decided by judges on their individual facts.

However, the committee did conclude that the Press Complaints Commission must be replaced by a stronger, independent review body.

Tulisa Contostavlos, pop star with hit band N-Dubz and a judge and mentor on this year's X-Factor talent show has instructed her lawyer to seek an injunction against a website which was purporting to offer visitors a link to a controversial sex tape which it claims features the singer.

Lawyers representing Ms Contostavlos, 23, sought an immediate injunction to prevent publication of the seven-minute video after it was posted onto a website. The link was taken down before the video was spread around the world by social networking sites.

Lawyers successfully applied for an injunction preventing publication of the video and banning media outlets from describing the sex acts performed in it.

Cherie Blair, the wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair has initiated legal proceedings over the phone-hacking scandal according to her solicitors.

A prominent human rights lawyer herself, Mrs Blair's solicitor Graham Atkins confirmed yesterday that a claim had been instigated in relation to the unlawful interception of voicemails.

It is thought that Mrs Blair is suing News Group Newspapers, the Rupert Murdoch owned company which previously owned and operated the News of the World, which closed in disgrace last year after more than 160 years on the presses.

The mother of Jamie Bulger, the toddler who was murdered by two ten-year-olds in Liverpool in 1993, has revealed that she will take legal action to prevent one of her son's killers from receiving a large payout as compensation for phone hacking by the News of the World.

Denise Fergus has learned that lawyers acting for James Thompson, who is now 29, have informed Scotland Yard that they intend to commence legal action against the News of the World for compensation.

The action began after Operation Weeting, which is investigating the actions of News of the World journalists, told Mr Thompson that his voicemail had been hacked between 2002 and 2007.

The Daily Star on Sunday, a tabloid newspaper owned and operated by Express Newspapers has failed in a bid to publish a story about the son of the environment secretary and Conservative MP for Meriden in the West Midlands, Caroline Spelman.

Mrs Spelman and her husband Mark sought the injunction late on Saturday evening after learning of the newspapers intention to publish the story on Sunday.

The case for seeking the injunction was that it contained "sensitive and personal" information about him. The couple won the injunction after a brief hearing at the High Court.

A 52-year-old former Metropolitan police officer has been arrested at his home in Berkshire by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

The arrest was made yesterday morning, as part of an ongoing investigation into allegations that police officers helped tabloid newspapers construct stories using police data.

The former officer was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, and offences under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Potty-mouthed celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey has won a High Court case against his wife's family after proving that they had hacked into his personal computers to read private messages.

Mr Ramsey was awarded £250,000 in legal costs by the court, in a case which centred on whether his father-in-law and other relatives had hacked into his personal emails and company computers to read messages sent between him and his wife.

Mr Justice Briggs found that Mr Ramsey's father-in-law, Chris Hutcheson and other members of Mr Hutcheson's family were liable for a breach of confidence and ordered them to return all the documents that they had obtained as a result.

Discussion about the phone-hacking scandal continues unabated through the Leveson Inquiry and recent witness Paul McMullan, former deputy features editor of the News of the World, has given evidence that many will no doubt find shocking, upsetting and even outrageous.

In defending the measures used by the newspaper, Mr McMullan claimed: "In 21 years of invading peoples' privacy I've never actually come across anyone who's been doing any good.

"Privacy is the space bad people need to do bad things in. Privacy is for paedos. Privacy is evil; it brings out the worst qualities in people."

After a "fleeting affair" with Hugh Grant earlier this year, Tinglan Hong, a Chinese actress, gave birth to a baby girl and has since been hounded by paparazzi. She was granted an anti-harassment injunction last Friday 11 November.

Mr Justice Tugendhat today claimed that he granted the injunction because Ms Hong "cannot leave her home without being followed and there are constantly photographers waiting outside her home".

Ms Hong, who never wanted to be in the limelight, claimed that "since the birth of her child [in September] her life has become unbearable".