UK’s OfCom to Publish Guidance on Illegal Content Risk Assessments in Light of Online Safety Bill
The UK’s Online Safety Bill (“Bill”), once legislated, will impose duties of care on providers of digital services, social media platforms and other online services to make them responsible for content generated and shared by their users and to mitigate the risk of harm arising from illegal content, and if services are deemed accessible by children, a duty to protect children from harm. As currently drafted, the Bill applies to any service or site that has users in the UK, or targets the UK as a market, even if it is not based in the country. The Bill is currently at the Committee Stage of the legislative process. Although the Bill is expected to receive Royal Assent during 2023, the timeline as to when the provisions will come into force is still unclear.
UK GDPR Reform Is Back! Department of Science, Innovation and Technology Introduces New Data Protection and Digital Information Bill
On 8 March 2023, the newly created Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (“DSIT”) introduced the Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill. The “Bill” is in substance a re-introduction of the previous Data Protection and Digital Information Bill which was withdrawn from Parliament on the same day as the new Bill was published. The Bill, which has been hailed by the UK Government as one that will “save billions” and “cut down pointless paperwork” is the UK’s latest attempt to create a more streamlined piece of data protection legislation for the UK whilst still “ensur[ing] data adequacy.” The Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) also welcomed the re-introduction of the Bill, with the Commissioner stating that he would “support [the Bill’s] ambition.” While much of the Bill remains the same as its previous iteration, we set out the key provisions and notable amendments below.
UK’s New Pro-innovation Approach to Regulating Digital Technologies
On 15 March 2023, the UK Government published, alongside its Spring Budget, a report on the Pro-innovation Regulation of Technologies Review (the “Report”). The Report was led by the government’s Chief Scientific Advisor and National Technology Officer, Sir Patrick Vallance, who was tasked with “bringing together the best minds to advise how the UK can better regulate emerging technologies, enabling their rapid and safe introduction.” In response, the UK Government has accepted all of the Report’s recommendations, and set out some next steps for their implementation.
ICO Publishes Draft New Guidance on PETs
On 7 September 2022, the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) published draft guidance (“Guidance”) on privacy-enhancing technologies (“PETs”). It is hoped that the Guidance will help organizations have the confidence to utilize PETs to develop innovative applications without compromising on privacy concerns, or trust. The Guidance is divided into two sections: (i) how can PETs help with data protection compliance; and (ii) what are PETs. We consider the key learning points from the Guidance below. (more…)
