The Irish Times reports today that a Garda Drone Unit has been created for various policing purposes:[Drones] look set to be deployed initially to pursue offenders, including those in vehicles, and for rapid dispatch to the scenes of major emergencies to provide “eye in the sky” intelligence for gardaí.The drones are also expected to be
TJ McIntyre Blogs
Latest from TJ McIntyre
Legitimate interest in practice: EDPB report on one stop shop decisions applying legitimate interest
Last year the European Data Protection Board commissioned me to write a report on legitimate interest as part of the series of One Stop Shop thematic digests and I’m delighted that this has now been published. The report surveys every publicly available OSS decision applying legitimate interest as a legal basis, finding a significant
Digital Searches in Ireland: Garda Powers Bill published
The Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration has published a draft Garda Síochána (Powers) Bill, with huge implications for digital searches in Ireland.This follows on from a Heads of Bill originally put forward in 2021. There were clear problems with that proposal, which I discussed in the Irish Times at the time. Many
Police powers to demand passwords – Poptoshev v DPP
Does a law violate the privilege against self-incrimination by requiring an individual to reveal a device password when a search warrant is being executed? The Irish High Court recently considered this issue in Poptoshev v DPP, holding that it doesn’t.In Poptoshev the applicant challenged sections 48 and 49 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud
Irish state spyware and the law
In 2022 the European Parliament PEGA committee adopted a damning report on the use of spyware across the EU, following growing evidence of countries such as Spain, Poland, Greece and Hungary abusing spyware to spy on opposition politicians, the media, and civil society.
Ireland featured in that report, but only incidentally as the
Data retention in Ireland: When European law meets national recalcitrance
I’ve just finished writing a chapter on data retention law in Ireland for a forthcoming collection edited by Eleni Kosta and Irene Kamara. It examines how, from the judgment in Digital Rights Ireland onwards, the Irish state has fought a rearguard action against compliance with EU fundamental rights.Abstract:This chapter examines the development of data
The "essence" of the fundamental rights to privacy and data protection in the context of state surveillance
The EDPS has just published a comprehensive study by Prof. Gloria González Fuster on the essence of the fundamental rights to privacy and to protection of personal data, and marked the publication of the study with a one day seminar on the issue earlier this week. As the event wasn’t public I won’t summarise
Issues with the new Garda Powers Bill
I have a piece in today’s Irish Times which identifies some serious concerns with the new Garda Powers Bill. Here’s an excerpt:The sensitivity of your phone means that this week’s proposal from the Department of Justice for a new Garda Síochána Powers Bill requires close scrutiny. That proposal would introduce a new power for gardaí,
The GAA and the GDPR
I have a piece in the Irish Times today discussing the kerfuffle about GAA clubs using WhatsApp to communicate with members. It may be the first time the phrase “dick pics” has appeared on the opinion pages of the paper of record. Here’s an excerpt:Facebook is not providing WhatsApp for philanthropic purposes, and information about
The new Irish ban on social media posts from court
I have an opinion piece in the Irish Independent on the new practice direction restricting social media posts from the courtroom. Here’s an excerpt:In 2011, the English courts introduced rules preventing anyone other than journalists or lawyers from posting to social media in the courtroom; the new Irish rules are largely identical, and