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Latest Analysis
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Ofcom’s Proactive Technology Measures: Principles-Based or Vague?
Ofcom has published its long-expected consultation on additional measures that it recommends U2U platforms and search engines should implement to fulfil their duties under the Online Safety Act. The focus, this time, is almost entirely on proactive technology: automated systems intended to detect particular kinds of illegal content and content harmful to children, with a view to…
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Vanquishing the IT Contract Delivery Demons
Clive Davies condenses years of experience in IT contract delivery and suggests how the processes can be better handled by the lawyers. I commenced my career in an in-house legal function, but one that also had an associated private practice. I stayed in industry with the energy and IT sectors before moving into private practice…
Privacy And Tech Laws In Latin America: An Interview with Barbara Lazarotto and Luz Orozco
After our recent podcast episode on privacy and tech laws in Latin America, two of the guests, Bárbara Lazarotto and Luz Orozco, stayed behind to share some additional insights with the host, Mauricio Figueroa. Bárbara Lazarotto Can you share a bit of the work you do at the Brussels Privacy Hub? What is like day-to-day and…
AI Data Leaks & Shadow AI: The Legal Minefield Facing UK Organisations in 2025
Camilo Artiga-Purcell, General Counsel at Kiteworks, identifies some of the ever-increasing risks and potential consequences of rushing to use AI in legal practice Picture a partner at a leading UK law firm, racing to finalise a high-stakes merger. With a deadline looming, they turn to a free online AI tool, uploading sensitive deal documents for…
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The (Speculative) Rise of AI Agents in Legal
Amanda Chaboryk, Chris Cartmell, and Stephanie Baker, of PwC, raise some early considerations about the seemingly inevitable spread of agentic AI into legal departments IntroductionArtificial Intelligence (AI) has played an increasingly prominent role within legal, starting as early as the 90’s, when legal databases started incorporating natural language processing to optimise search and retrieval. Leaping…
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Latest News
View more news >ICO consults on guidance for distributed ledger technologies
Following last week’s consultations in response to the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 coming into force, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is now also consulting on guidance on distributed ledger technologies. Distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) such as blockchain, seek to store, synchronise and maintain digital records across a network of computing centres. Their uses…
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This Week’s Techlaw News Round-up
UK law Ofcom investigates Duplanto Ltd under online safety age check rules Ofcom has announced that it is investigating Duplanto Ltd, which runs a porn site, in relation to the age-check requirements under the Online Safety Act. Since 25 July, sites that allow users to upload pornographic content have been required to use highly effective…
EU Data Act in force from 12 September 2025
With all the excitement over the EU’s AI Act and the UK’s data protection reforms, there is another piece of legislation coming into force soon which may have been somewhat overlooked – the EU’s so-called Data Act. It’s quite a complex piece of legislation and if you start looking into it you’ll end up down…
ICO launches consultations on guidance for Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 amendments
In response to the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUAA) coming into force, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is consulting on two pieces of new guidance on: Recognised legitimate interest “Recognised legitimate interest” is a new lawful basis. The ICO says that this new basis will give organisations greater confidence to use personal information…
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This Week’s Techlaw News Round-Up
UK law 4chan says it won’t comply with the Online Safety Act 2023 Back in June, we reported that Ofcom had opened formal investigations into various companies under the Online Safety Act 2023, including the online discussion board 4chan. This month, it issued 4chan with “a provisional notice of contravention” for failing to comply with…
Latest Cases
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Another Chinese court finds that AI-generated images can be protected by copyright: the Changshu People’s Court and the ‘half heart’ case
Chinese courts take a different approach to the issue of AI generating copyright protected images, the DLA Piper team reports. On 7 March 2025, the Changshu People’s Court (in China’s Jiangsu province) announced that it had recently concluded a case on the topical issue of whether AI-generated works can be protected by copyright. In the…
Monster Jackpot wins the day
The High Court has recently considered a dispute arising from a miscommunication regarding the claimant’s winnings on an online game. The claimant in Durber v PPB Entertainment Ltd [2025] EWHC 498 (KB) played the Wild Hatter game in October 2020 – a two-part game involving a fruit machine and a wheel of fortune. After spinning…
Court of Appeal dismisses appeal in EE v Virgin Mobile case
The Court of Appeal has recently dismissed the appeal in EE Ltd v Virgin Mobile Telecoms Ltd [2025] EWCA Civ 70. The case arose in the context of a dispute between EE and Virgin Mobile. VM had stated that EE’s claim was for loss of profit and, therefore, the claim was excluded by the following…
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High Court rules on targeting advertising to “recovering online gambling addict”
The High Court has ruled in the case of RTM v Bonne Terre Ltd and Another EWHC 111 (KB). The claimant RTM described himself as a recovering online gambling addict. He was a private individual with no national profile. He was anonymised in the litigation because of the risk that the privacy interests he was…
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GDPR and rail transport: gender identity is not necessary data for the purchase of a transport ticket
The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled in Case C‑394/23 Mousse v CNIL and SNCF that asking customers to state their gender title (Mr or Ms) when buying train tickets is not necessary for the contract and may violate GDPR rules, especially the principle of data minimisation. Mousse (a LGTB association) complained…
Latest Event Reports
View more event reports >The SCL AI Conference: Key Takeaways
Mauricio Figueroa summarises the key points from the SCL AI Conference hosted by Herbert Smith Freehills on 8th October. Practitioners, lawmakers, academics, trainees, in-house lawyers, and civil society representatives gathered at Herbert Smith Freehills’ offices in London for the annual Society for Computers and Law AI conference. The event brought together experts to explore the…
SCL 50th Anniversary Conference 2023 – Rising Star Impression
Victor Gurr, Trainee Solicitor, Gisby Harrison Solicitors was nominated to attend the recent SCL 50th Anniversary Conference on 10 October 2023 as a tech law “rising star”. “Rising stars” are invited to record their impressions of the Conference in any form they choose (in previous years these have been event reports, infographs and even poems!). These…
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SCL 50th Anniversary Conference Event Report: “The Dragon Under the Sofa and other stories”
What separates humanity from technology? The sudden omniscience of ChatGPT in November 2022 has prompted a good deal of philosophising on that question with the apparent gap between the human and the machine growing ever less defined. There is as yet little common ground on where the boundary lies but one oft cited difference is…
The SCL 50th Anniversary Conference – a visual overview
Gerald Brent, Associate, Addleshaw Goddard, provides a visual summary of some of the key elements from the recent SCL 50th Anniversary Conference….
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Key Takeaways from the SCL Privacy and DP Group Event: Ad Tech – Bring Everyone to the Table
Speakers Anita Bapat (Kemp Little LLP) Tom O’Flynn (Google) James Evan (Verizon media) Alex Abrahams (DMGT) Karishma Brahmbhatt (Allen & Overy LLP) Event Overview With ad-tech a key focus for data protection authorities such as the ICO and CNIL, panellists James, Alex and Tom methodically described ad-tech infrastructure, and the various players involved within the…
