Year: 2020
Key data protection challenges for 2021
Data globalisation after Schrems II Browsing the web. Using apps. Communicating electronically. Shopping online. Working from home. Life as we know it relies on data flowing across geographical borders throughout the world. However, international data transfers have never been more scrutinised. Following the ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in […]
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Employee monitoring software: is it legal?
For most law firms time recording constructs and the idea of annual billable hours have always meant that “productivity” could be monitored. Any of the managing partner’s typical calls to action of “you’re not billing enough” or “your time recording is down” can be justified where fee-earners have to account for every minute. Even if […]
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Mutant algorithms: who is to blame?
Most would agree that it has been a year that feels like it was drawn from the storyline of a particularly lurid B-movie. Even by those standards, though, the comment “I am afraid your grades were almost derailed by a mutant algorithm” was one that stood out, painting a picture of Britain’s youth falling victim […]
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ICO concludes Cambridge Analytica investigation
Although the internet was born out of a military research project, many of its original advocates touted its democratic potential to provide a platform for free exchange of ideas and creativity. But there were always voices of warning that the mass connectivity resulting from a global network could lead to something more Orwellian. The creeping […]
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An SEO glossary
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results. This glossary explains all the terms relevant to that practice and more generally to website development. There are many more useful articles on these topics on the Hallam Blog. 301 Redirect – […]
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An internet primer: the Domain Name System
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical, decentralised naming system for computers, services and other resources connected to the internet. It translates domain names (like yourfirm.com) to the numerical IP addresses needed for locating and identifying computer services and devices with the underlying network protocols (like 95.232.149.44). The DNS provides a worldwide, distributed directory […]
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Reform of the communications offences
The government published its Online Harms White Paper in April 2019, which set out a range of proposals to reduce illegal and harmful online activity. An initial consultation response was published in February 2020, with a full response expected before the end of the year and potential legislation coming in early 2021. Meanwhile, the Law […]
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NHS contact tracing app: teething troubles
Back in June, I wrote about the long delayed COVID-19 app, which was supposed to form a key part of the contact tracing system, famously hailed by Boris as “world beating”. The app was eventually launched on 24 September and has, according to government figures, been downloaded almost 20 million times. Although two million people […]
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Building your brand with social media
Constantly working on branding and IP projects means that I’m always coming up with new ideas on what I can offer clients to help them get more from my service. One example of this is my newest product and forthcoming book, provisionally called Brand Tuned – How to Create an Inimitable Brand to Win Business […]
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Police use of facial recognition
The Court of Appeal recently handed down its decision in the case of R v Bridges [2020] EWCA Civ 1058, the first case of its kind in the world dealing with law enforcement use of live facial recognition. Live automated facial recognition (AFR) is a technology that is overlaid onto facial images in real time. […]
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Online reviews and testimonials
In July 2020, the Law Society Gazette reported that legal industry revenue had dropped to a four year low. With everything else on the decline, this is no surprise. However, not all of the trends initiated by Covid-19 are negative – and some are giving the legal industry a much needed boost, one of which […]
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An internet primer: what is the internet?
The Internet Newsletter for Lawyers was launched in the late 90s as there was at that time a thirst for guidance on what this new thing called the internet was and what it could offer the lawyer. Today we all take the internet for granted and few concern ourselves with what it actually is, even […]
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