HR Articles

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a new technology and its laws and regulations, as well as guidance released on good practices in this area, are quickly developing.

The Law Society states that ‘artificial intelligence’ (AI) involves computer systems which can replicate human cognitive functions, and that it includes algorithms detecting patterns in data, as well as applying these to automate certain tasks.

As we enter the week of Valentine’s Day, it is important to recognise the significance of data security, particularly where we have seen the number of cybersecurity breaches increase over the last few months.

In recent years, there has been a very significant movement from office-based to remote working, driven initially by the increasing attraction as an employee retention tool of flexible working and, of course, accelerated in a truly unforeseeable way by the COVID-19 pandemic.

There have been many factors at play which have shaped this year’s developments in data protection, in particular stemming from Brexit, Covid-19 pandemic, inflation and the war in Ukraine. We review the key developments of 2022 and what you should look out for in the New Year.

We recently acted for the UK arm of a multi-national company in connection with the transfer of personal data to an HR services-provider based in the United States.

This week the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) handed Interserve a £4.4 million fine for failing to put appropriate measures in place to prevent unauthorised access of private data.

The European Data Protection Board has opened a public consultation in relation to one of its guidelines on personal data breach notification under the GDPR.

The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (“DPDI Bill”) was due to have its second reading in Parliament on 5 September 2022. The aim of the Bill was to update the UK’s data protection framework. However, this was halted due to the appointment of Liz Truss as the new Prime Minister.

In September 2021, the government launched a consultation – ‘Data: a new direction’ – as part of its proposals to reform the UK’s data protection laws following Brexit, the responses to which were published in June this year.