The Information Commissioner’s Office closed their investigation into the Department for Health CCTV leak that saw Hancock’s snog with then-aide Gina Coladangelo splashed on the front page of The Sun. The ICO announced this afternoon that their investigation had found “insufficient evidence to prosecute two people suspected of unlawfully obtaining and disclosing CCTV footage from the Department for Health and Social Care”. They shouldn’t have been investigating anyway…
“Forensic analysis revealed that the leaked images were most likely obtained by someone recording the CCTV footage screens with a mobile phone.
Six phones retrieved during the execution of search warrants did not contain the relevant CCTV footage. After taking legal advice, the ICO concluded that there was insufficient evidence to charge anyone with criminal offences under the Data Protection Act 2018.
The ICO has therefore closed its criminal investigation.”
The Sun’s Harry Cole had previously accused the ICO investigation of being a further move along the “systematic decay of freedom of the press”. All kiss, no tell…
The Information Commissioner’s Office has announced two residential properties in the south of England were searched this morning as part of their investigation into the Hancock CCTV leak. The statement just released goes on to say “Personal computer equipment and electronic devices were seized as part of the operation”. The ICO’s Director of Investigations says it’s vital everyone, including government employees, have trust and confidence in the protection of their personal data. Victoria Newton recently said she’s “done everything I can to protect” The Sun’s source…
The Information Commission has finally concluded its 3 year investigation into Cambridge Analytica. Its comprehensive report, shared with the Digital, Culture and Media and Sport Select Committee, will not make happy reading for the Carole Cadwalladrs of this world. The investigation reviewed 42 laptops and computers, 700 TB of data, 31 servers, over 300,000 documents, and a wide range of material in paper form and from cloud storage devices. Guido brings you some select findings…
On whether SCL Elections Ltd and Cambridge Analytica were involved in the referendum campaign:
“From my review of the materials recovered by the investigation I have found no further evidence to change my earlier view that SCL/CA were not involved in the EU referendum campaign in the UK”
On data practices of organisations on both sides of the EU referendum campaign:
“I identified no significant breaches of the privacy and electronic marketing regulations and data protection legislation that met the threshold for formal regulatory action.”
On Evidence of Russian involvement:
“We did not find any additional evidence of Russian involvement in our analysis of material contained in the SCL / CA servers we obtained.”
The report does highlight dodgy data practices from Cambridge Analytica, with the Commissioner writing “I have also confirmed my previous understanding about the poor data practices at the company, which, had they sought to continue trading, would likely have attracted further regulatory action against them by my office.” It’s clear Cambridge Analytica were shysters. Yet not ones who changed the outcome of the Brexit referendum. Guido can’t wait for Carole’s climbdown…
Elizabeth Denham has been the UK’s Information Commissioner since July 2016. Among her greatest hits since that time have been punitive investigations going after Cambridge Analytica and Facebook. She is currently attempting to introduce ‘age gating’ for the entire internet via a new Age Appropriate Design Code. What’s more, her internet-meddling isn’t even being done from the UK…
A freedom of information request has now revealed that Denham, who is paid more than the Prime Minister, has been working from a location within the Canadian Pacific Time Zone for some time. This means she living a full eight hours off from UK time. Guido hears that this has been the case for many months, with obvious consequences for workflow efficiency, and no drop in pay. On the bright side, perhaps she can’t do as much harm working from half way across the world…
The Information Commissioner’s office has written to MPs to remind them not to share their usernames and passwords with others. Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham wrote to all MPs this week:
“My office observed reports from social media in early December 2017 in which a number of Members openly revealed their practice of sharing their login details and passwords. I was concerned by these reports and have decided to write to all Members to highlight the importance of following good practice in respect of password management and information security.”
During the Damian Green scandal press reports noted the practice of MPs sharing their passwords with staff. Sharing passwords could give MPs plausible deniability over their online actions…
The letter from the ICO came to MPs in the notoriously impregnable form of a Microsoft Word document. The properties tab in Word revealed the username of the document’s author and members of ICO staff who had edited it. Some way to go to achieve max info sec…
