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Reversal of fortune

The “informational privacy” debate will run and run says Timothy Pitt–Payne

There is increasing concern about the amount of personal information stored both by public authorities and private organisations. Questions are raised about whether we are living in a “surveillance society”; there are protests about the “database state”. Over the past year there has been a string of stories about the accidental loss or dissemination of personal information held by public bodies—and one result has been to focus attention on the sheer volume of information that these bodies collect.

Within this general area, a particularly controversial subject is the retention by the police of material that can be used to identify individuals: fingerprints, physical samples and DNA profi les. The taking of fingerprints and samples in the course of police investigations is familiar and, in general, uncontroversial. Indeed, the use of fingerprint evidence in this country goes back over 100 years. However the retention of such material after an individual has been acquitted, or after criminal proceedings have been discontinued, is a

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
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Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
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