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On 24 September and 8 October 2020, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the United Kingdom's independent body established to uphold information rights, imposed fines on two companies for sending thousands of nuisance marketing texts and unlawful marketing emails at the height of the current pandemic. In September 2020, Digital Growth Experts Limited (DGEL) was issued with a monetary penalty of GBP 60 000 in relation to a serious contravention of Regulations 22 and 23 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (PECR). The PECR provide for specific...

Ofcom is required under Article 46 of the BBC Charter to create and operate an Operating Framework for the BBC in order to reduce the risk of the impact that the BBC might have on fair and effective competition. Before the BBC changes its trading arrangements, under the BBC Agreement it must consider whether any of the changes it proposes  are “material”; it may only carry out material changes with the approval of Ofcom.  Material changes are, according to the BBC Agreement: the carrying out of a new type of activity as a commercial activity, or a significant change to the...

Currently, there are before the UK Parliament three proposed items of legislation which, if enacted, will affect the BBC and, in one instance, another public sector broadcaster (PSB): Channel 4. The BBC Licence Fee (Civil Penalty) Bill proposes to decriminalise the non-payment of the BBC licence fee. The prime source of annual revenue for the BBC is a fee that users of its terrestrial, streaming and downland TV services have to pay. There are a limited number of licence fee exemptions, otherwise users are liable to criminal prosecution if caught using the BBC services without a licence....

On 2 September 2020, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the United Kingdom's independent body established to uphold information rights, formally issued its Age Appropriate Design Code of Practice which should be followed by online services to protect children’s privacy. The Age Appropriate Design Code of Practice is a statutory code required under section 123 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) and aims to address the increasing “datafication” of children. The Code was first published on 12 August 2020 and, following completion of its parliamentary...

Chinese news service CGTN was held by Ofcom to have breached rules 5.1, 5.11 and 5.12 relating to impartiality in respect of the Hong Kong protests in response to the Hong Kong Government’s Extradition Law Amendment Bill. The bill would allow criminal suspects in Hong Kong to be sent to mainland China for trial. Ofcom deemed that various CGTN news items about the Hong Kong protests had not been duly impartial on a matter of major political controversy and relating to current public policy. Ofcom considers that these breaches merit the imposition of a statutory sanction. CGTN is the international...