A cartoon commissioned from Chris Slane for this year’s Privacy Awareness Week:

Image: Two children are walking in a forest. They appear to be carrying PDAs; there are many public electronic devices (phones, ATMs, internet booths) on the trees; there is a cctv camera on a tree; there is a spy satellite overhead; and one of the background trees is in fact a communications mast. Peering out from behind a tree towards the back of the scene, a witch following them is studying her own PDA.
Caption: Alas, Hansel and Gretel had left a digital trail.

Human Rights in Ireland’s superb Blog Carnival on DNA Databases (context | 2010 Bill (pdf) here and here | mass screening | European experience | Australia | Scotland) picks up and amplifies my concerns about DNA privacy. In particular, David O’Dwyer’s post argues that the common trope that “the Innocent have nothing to fear!” exacerbates “the growing perception of ‘us’ and ‘them’ in society – ‘Us’ the law abiding citizens and ‘Them’, the law breakers, the ‘Barbarians at the gate’” (by no means a uniquely Irish concern). He concludes that

While these laws may seem to be in ‘our’ interest

…There has been sufficient miscarriages of justice in the history of crime in this and in other jurisdictions to indicate a belief that ‘the innocent have nothing to fear’ is not necessarily the whole answer.

McGuinness J –Gilligan v Criminal Assets Bureau [1997] IEHC 106; [1998] 3 IR 185 (26 June 1997) [118].

McGuinness J’s dictum was approved by Hardiman J in the Supreme Court in O’C v DPP [2000] IESC 58 (19 May 2000) [195]. Concerns over the too-easy invocation of the trope have animated previous posts on this blog. As Toby Stevens observed on The Privacy, Identity & Consent Blog:

Debunking a myth: If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear

… “Nothing to hide, nothing to fear” is a myth, a fallacy, a trojan horse wheeled out by those who can’t justify their surveillance schemes, databases and privacy invasions. It is an argument that insults intelligent individuals and disregards the reality of building and operating an IT system, a business or even a government. If ever you hear someone at a dinner party crank out this old chestnut, grab your coat, make your apologies, run fast and run far. And as William has said before, I wouldn’t want to be stuck at a dinner party next to someone who has nothing to hide – imagine how dull that would be.

May 2010 is the ICCL’s Know Your Rights Month! The ICCL’s Know Your Rights public information project is designed to inform people in clear and accessible language about their rights under various key areas of the law in Ireland. There are two key projects. The first is a series of information packs covering key human rights areas: Criminal Justice and Garda Powers, Privacy and the European Convention on Human Rights. They are written in plain English, and will be updated regularly as the law changes, providing accessible and accurate information. As well as being available for download free of charge, they are also being distributed to libraries and citizens’ information centres nationwide.

The second key project is a series of roadshows to raise awareness of human rights and to help those giving advice on foot of the ICCL information packs. The first of these roadshow events will take place on Wednesday 19 May 2010, from 2:00pm to 4:00pm in the Community and Social Enterprise Centre, 8 North Mall, Cork. Those interested should contact the ICCL’s Joanne Garvey to reserve a place.

I am particularly impressed by the privacy pack, covering the following areas:

• Closed Circuit TV (CCTV)
• Consumer affairs
• Data protection
• Educational institutions
• Foreign nationals and asylum seekers
• Gardaí
• General information
• Government departments and agencies
• Internet
• Key words
• Media
• Privacy at work
• Surveillance
• Useful Contacts

This morning’s Today with Pat Kenny radio show on RTÉ Radio 1 featured a slot on protecting privacy which discussed the ICCL Know Your Rights campaign in general and the privacy pack in particular. The issue were explored by Gary Davis, Deputy Data Protection Commissioner and TJ McIntyre of the UCD School of Law and head of Digital Rights Ireland. The item can be streamed or podcast from the webpage for today’s show. It’s well worth a listen, and the ICCL’s packs are well worth consulting. Kudos to them for such an important job so well done.

Update: there is a super post, with more history, over on Human Rights in Ireland.

Today’s Irish Times carries two interesting interlinked reports. The first is about yesterday’s Press Council seminar in Cork, the second is about TV3’s exposure of Brian Lenihan’s illness, which – unsurprisingly – was one of the issues discussed at the seminar.

First, yesterday’s seminar in Cork:

Media’s role vital to liberty, says Dunne

Freedom would mean less without a free media, entrepreneur Ben Dunne told a seminar organised in Cork yesterday by the Press Council of Ireland. … He condemned the broadcast of the Brian Lenihan story on TV3 on December 26th, saying that it “crossed a line it did not need to cross”. However, he added that TV3 was not the only offender in relation to breaches of privacy.

Another speaker, Data Protection Commissioner Billy Hawkes, told the seminar that the phenomenal development of the internet posed challenges to traditional ideas of privacy and data protection. …

Tightening privacy laws is a recipe for “non-accountability, secrecy and duplicity”, the seminar was told by Paul Drury, managing editor of the Irish Daily Mail, who added that he was wary of any proposal to legislate for heightened privacy.

Paul Drury will be very well aware that TV3’s revelations of Brian Lenihan’s illness could make privacy legislation more likely, even though the Minister himself seems remarkably phlegmatic about it:

Lenihan says he was rushed into telling children about cancer

Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has told a local newspaper [the Community Voice newspaper in Blanchardstown] he was rushed into telling his children about his cancer diagnosis on St Stephen’s Day because TV3 had decided to run the story. …

Mr Lenihan said while he did not see what public interest was served between St Stephen’s Day and the new year by TV3 broadcasting the story, he did not intend to lose sleep over it.

Update: Three quick comments. First, thanks, Damien, in the comments below, for pointing me towards the Examiner report on the seminar Dunne slates TV3 for lack of fairness. Second, I couldn’t agree more with Noreen’s comment below that ” the notion that there is supposed to be some kind of journalistic obligation to keep politicians’ secrets is deeply unsettling. It’s in the nature of the media to report the news about public officials. If you’re a journalist, it’s called doing your job”. And, third, there is more about Brian Lenihan’s interview with the Community Voice in a story in today’s Irish Independent.

From today’s Irish Times:

Press Council seminar on privacy

The Press Council is hosting a seminar on the relationship between the press, the internet and privacy at Jury’s Western Hotel in Cork on Friday.

Data Protection Commissioner Billy Hawkes, businessman Ben Dunne and Irish Daily Mirror editor John Kierans are among the speakers at the seminar, which hopes to generate an exchange of views between members of the media and the public.

The seminar, which is free and open to the public, begins at 2pm.

In today’s Irish Times, Mary Minihan writes:

Complaints to BAI over TV3 cancer disclosure

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) has received 70 e-mails complaining about the TV3 news broadcast on St Stephen’s Day disclosing the cancer diagnosis of Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan. …

Meanwhile, Minster for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin said she and her Government colleagues were “appalled” at the way the story was disclosed. …

You read it here first folks. Now, in today’s Irish Times, Michael Foley (School of Media, DIT) writes:

Lenihan broadcast could lead to privacy law rethink

ANALYSIS: TV3 had no more than a rumour about Brian Lenihan’s health, and no attributable source. …

Unlike journalists, politicians like rules, and the Minister for Justice has already warned he will revisit his privacy proposals if the media does not behave. The insensitive invasion of a popular politician’s privacy might be just the example he needs.

Expect to see lots of references to this piece as the clamour for privacy legislation begins to grow.

Update: have a look at John McGurk’s thoughtful posts on the issue.

Joe Ryan wrote both an interesting comment on this morning’s post and a great post about the issue on his own blog. My reply to him became too long for a comment, so I’ve upgraded it to this post.

First, I should say that I worked with Brian Lenihan for a few years in TCD, and my thoughts and best wishes are with him and his family at this difficult time. It may be a cliché, but it’s nonetheless true for all that, and I hope he returns to rude good health as quickly as possible.

Second, as TJ McIntyre and Jason Walsh argue, Brian’s illness must be a prime example of a public interest in disclosure. On the other hand, Jim Tormey argues that it is a legitimate matter of public interest only when Brian finds or it appears obvious that he cannot do his job. This is a strong argument, and even some who are wary of overbearing privacy laws are discomfited by TV3’s insensitivity and lack of self-restraint. In the circumstances, I think that Brian showed great restraint in not seeking an injunction to prevent TV3’s broadcast, and I agree with Joe (and with Myles Duffy on The Crimson Observer) that, if Brian chooses to make an issue of it, the matter should go to the recently-fully-established Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI). Compare the adjudications of the Press Ombudsman and Press Council upholding a complaint by Tony Gregory TD that a reporter for the Evening Herald confronting his brother at his home was an invasion of privacy justified neither by the complainant’s public position as a Dáil deputy, nor by the significance of the information being sought about his ongoing battle with cancer. (Ironically, the Herald now thinks that TV3 treated Brian and his family badly).

However, my point – indeed my worry – in my previous post, is not what he himself would do but what others might do ‘on his behalf’, and seek to resurrect the moribund (but flawed) Privacy Bill, 2006?

When he was Minister for Justice in January 2008 (amplifying something he had said two months earlier), Brian did not rule out introducing such a Bill, but instead gave the media 2 years to prove that it was not necessary. Last April, his successor as Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern (rather controversially) said that he plans to revive the dormant Privacy Bill, citing a worrying trend in media intrusion to get a good story. We’re nearly at the end of Brian’s two year grace period, and TV3’s actions are being seen as another example of just such intrusive gutter journalism. As a consequence, I think it very likely that those who want privacy legislation are even now lining up to use it as an excuse to drum up support for it. It would be a great pity if the politicians were to legislate in haste, leaving the rest of us to repent at leisure. Let us first see if the BAI can resolve the issue; only then, with cooler heads, should we proceed to consider whether further legislative intervention is required. If that comes to pass, then TV3’s short-sighted decision to broadcast may have gained them some short-term beneift but in the long-run we will all be short-changed.