A new analysis of the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) 2023-24 Annual Report by the Open Right Group (ORG) shows the regulator is "overly cautious" in enforcing UK data protection law.
The ORG's findings indicate that the ICO prioritises the interests of government and corporations ahead of the general public. As a result, the ICO has taken minimal action in the private sector on complex issues like profiling and artificial intelligence (AI). Meanwhile, the ICO's light-touch regulatory approach for public sector organisations has led to an over-reliance on issuing formal reprimands for data protection violations resulting in harmful consequences for the affected individuals.
The ORG also confirmed that the ICO has closed its complaint concerning Meta's use of personal data to train its AI models without consent. The ICO's response to the complaint was made public in October, but this is the first official confirmation that ORG's request for a formal investigation has been rejected.
In terms of the ICO's independence, the ORG is concerned that details contained in the Data (Use and Access) Bill (DUA Bill) continue to pose a threat as the Bill would allow the government to select members of the new Information Commission at its discretion and determine their salaries without parliamentary oversight.
The ORG argues that this could lead to increased governmental and corporate influence over the ICO, limiting its ability to act in the public's interest. The lack of provisions for individuals to contest ICO decisions in court further exacerbates concerns regarding the regulator's effectiveness and accountability.
In a related post, the ORG has published a briefing paper ahead of the DUA Bill's second reading in the House of Lords.
What is this page?
You are reading a summary article on the Privacy Newsfeed, a free resource for DPOs and other professionals with privacy or data protection responsibilities helping them stay informed of industry news all in one place. The information here is a brief snippet relating to a single piece of original content or several articles about a common topic or thread. The main contributor is listed in the top left-hand corner, just beneath the article title.
The Privacy Newsfeed monitors over 300 global publications, of which more than 5,750 summary articles have been posted to the online archive dating back to the beginning of 2020. A weekly roundup is available by email every Friday.
