Wednesday 5 May 2010 at 1230
Public Law Discussion Group
Turning the European Convention on its head? Freedom of Expression, Academic Social Inquiry and the UK’s Data Protection Act (1998)
Speaker: Dr. David Erdos, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies and Balliol College, Oxford
Venue: Oxford Law Faculty Law Senior Common Room
Data Protection can seriously restrict valuable forms of communication about identifiable individuals. This is particularly so with “Research” which is largely subject to the provisions of ordinary data protection law. It is generally considered that academic social inquiry must fit within this Research framework. This paper explores the significant and multi-faceted restrictions this understanding imposes both on the substance and format of these activities. This position is then systematically critiqued. It is argued that the application of ordinary principles of statutory interpretation point to academic work fitting within the “journalism, literature and art” rubric. This benefits from much more considerable exemptions under the Data Protection Act. Not including academic studies within this broader exemption would effectively turn the European Convention on its head: subjecting more valuable and publicly-orientated expressive activities to disproportionate restrictions, whilst allowing expression which serves at best little more than an entertainment purpose a much freer ride.
For more information please see the event website or contact: Hayley J. Hooper
Interested in this subject? View our Constitutional and Administrative Law page.
Organised by the Public Law Discussion Group
