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DAY 1 – 17 February 2025
Introduction
Speaker: Professor Amanda Harcourt, UCL
Session 1: Interception: State Surveillance from Postal Systems to Global Networks
It may not be Big Brother (yet), but the state is watching you—watching all of us, in fact, systematically intercepting our private communications and putting them to work in its own interests. In Interception, a media genealogy of the surveillance state at its most intimate, Bernard Keenan investigates the emergence of this practice as a governmental power and the secret role it has played in the development of communication systems and law. He exposes the complex, largely obscure history of a covert and fundamental connection between the secret powers of the state and the means by which we communicate our everyday lives.
Speaker: Dr Bernard Keenan, UCL Laws
Session 2: Privacy, Reputation and the Public Interest
An overview of current and developing case law governing celebrity, personal privacy, the press and other mainstream media.
Speaker: Andy Lee, Partner, Brandsmiths LLP
Session 3: Whistleblowing
While organisations might prefer that their wrongdoings be kept secret, often they can be exposed to the disinfectant effect of sunlight. Such revelations in the public interest are permitted and most people are protected by law if they make such a qualifying disclosure. Who is protected and to what extent?
Speaker: Edward Kemp, Barrister, Matrix Chambers
Session 4: Data Broking
An examination of the methods by which private companies make profits by collecting the public’s personal data, from both public sources and private sources, and selling and licensing our data to third parties for a host of uses.
Speaker: Professor Amanda Harcourt, UCL
Session 5: Investigatory Powers Legislation
This session will introduce students to the key themes of the recently-amended Investigatory Powers Act 2016, from the perspective of a telecommunications operator potentially facing obligations under it, and give practical tips on what one might do if one is on the receiving end of a request for assistance.
Speaker: Neil Brown, decoded.legal
Session 6: Calling Big Tech to account: A US Update
Each year we receive an update from a US-based victim rights legal practice that has made it its business to challenge through the US courts the abuses of Big Tech and powerful predators. The firm has a particular focus upon stalking, revenge porn, child sexual exploitation and similar modern crimes.
Speaker: Naomi Leeds, GA Goldberg Law, NYC
DAY 2 – 18 February 2025
Session 7: Personal Data and International Security
Europol, a long-time contributor to this course, supports both EU Member States and many non-EU partner states and international organisations. Data security and accuracy is absolutely vital in Europol’s work to prevent and combat all forms of serious international and organised crime, cybercrime and terrorism.
Speaker: Daniel Drewer, Europol
Session 8: AI Legislation
As AI technologies gain ground in all areas of our modern lives, governments struggle to keep up in framing a regulatory structure. This slot will review such legislative attempts across a variety of jurisdictions.
Speaker: Ashley Winton, Winton and Winton
Session 9: The Regulation of Personal Data & Data Transfers
In a global marketplace the rules regulating the international sharing of personal data and preventing the misuse of private information are complex. We examine current case law and the international regulatory regime that affects us all.
Speaker: Jacob O’Brien, Brandsmiths
Session 10: Privacy International Current Cases
Governments and corporations are using technology to exploit us. Abuses of power can threaten our freedoms and the very things that make us human. Privacy International is a non-profit body that challenges such abuses in the courts, both domestic and international. We review their current case load, past successes and some failures.
Speaker: Ioannis Kouvakas, Senior Legal Officer and Assistant General Counsel, Privacy International
Session 11: Biometric Data & its Governance
Whether it is facial recognition systems, our fingerprints, our DNA, our voices or even our gait, all allow third parties to identify us. In some, if not most instances, this may be unexceptionable, but the use of our unique identifying characteristics should be collected, stored and used with caution. We examine the regulatory regime affecting the use of our biometric data.
Speaker: Professor Amanda Harcourt, UCL
Session 12: Ad Sales
The delivery of advertising and marketing has undergone a digital transformation in the last 20 years. Digital media is now at the heart of any successful campaign but brand owners and agencies are also increasingly dependent on technology platforms to control the development, delivery and targeting of digital content. How does this mysterious technology work and what contractual standards are there for the procuring and supply of ad tech and digital advertising?
Speaker: Mark Hersey, Lewis Silkin
KEYNOTE: Operational and Technical Surveillance Capabilities
Speaker: Malcolm Taylor, Blue Highway Advisory