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Private eye

21 March 2014 / Tom Morrison
Issue: 7599 / Categories: Features , Data protection
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Tom Morrison returns with his quarterly review of the world of information law

Christmas 2013 may have become a distant memory, but any work-related party of note will have left its indelible mark somewhere on a social network. Party-goers up and down the land will have made sure that those special moments from their work dos were captured in prose on Twitter, through grainy fake Polaroids on Instagram or with amusing clips posted on YouTube. There can be few workplaces where an employee has not done something like tweeting a picture of a photocopied body part with the hashtag #mybossisanidiot or posted a video of themselves drinking vodka via their eye sockets.

The anecdote becomes somewhat less amusing for the employee if, once the alcohol-induced haze has cleared, his or her employer decides that the employee may have brought the business into disrepute because the company’s social media account was used, or the star of the video was in company uniform at the time. There is an employment law minefield to navigate, not only in relation

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Serious injury teambolstered by high-profile partner hire

Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

Firm strengthens employment team with partner hire

DAC Beachcroft—Tim Barr

DAC Beachcroft—Tim Barr

Lawyers’ liability practice strengthened with partner appointment in London

NEWS
Tech companies will be legally required to prevent material that encourages or assists serious self-harm appearing on their platforms, under Online Safety Act 2023 regulations due to come into force in the autumn
Commercial leasehold, the defence of insanity and ‘consent’ in the criminal law are among the next tranche of projects for the Law Commission
The Bar has a culture of ‘impunity’ and ‘collusive bystanding’ in which making a complaint is deemed career-ending due to a ‘cohort of untouchables’ at the top, Baroness Harriet Harman KC has found

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has secured £1.1m in its first use of an Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO)

County court cases are speeding up, with the median time from claim to hearing 62 weeks for fast, intermediate and multi-track claims—5.4 weeks faster than last year
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