Computer Misuse Bill

Two things of interest happened in Parliament on the 5th April. The first was the Prime Minister’s announcement of the date of the 2005 general election; the second was the first reading of Derek Wyatt MP’s Computer Misuse Act 1990 (Amendment) Bill, a ten minute rule bill which seeks (as its name would suggest) to amend the Computer Misuse Act 1990 (CMA). Whilst it would be fair to say that the former was perhaps the higher profile of the two, to many IT lawyers the latter is of equal importance and Shelley Hill examines the Bill’s proposals….

Read More… from Computer Misuse Bill

Mergers & Acquisitions In Europe: Diligence is Due When Disclosing Personal Data

Business acquisitions typically involve the up-front review of target-related information, sometimes by several potential buyers. The information reviewed during such ‘due diligence’ exercise may include customer data and employee files, which are likely to constitute ‘personal data’ under EU data privacy rules. The need for effective compliance with EU data privacy rules in the context of business transfers is often neglected, exposing both sellers and potential buyers to possible private claims and/or public sanctions. Wim Nauwelaerts takes a look at how EU data privacy law impacts on the preparatory stage of mergers and acquisitions….

Read More… from Mergers & Acquisitions In Europe: Diligence is Due When Disclosing Personal Data

The Power of Metadata

This article from Simon Dawson examines the value in litigation of the hidden information (known as metadata) encoded into most electronic documents, illustrates this by a study based on a real case and finally discusses the circumstances in which an opposing party in litigation might be compelled to provide it….

Read More… from The Power of Metadata