London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Sep 01, 2025

Brexit Britain Is Failing EU’s Data-Privacy Test, Activist Warns

Brexit Britain Is Failing EU’s Data-Privacy Test, Activist Warns

U.K. privacy protections were criticized by an activist who told the European Union that the British shouldn’t be trusted to protect user data after Brexit.
The personal data of EU citizens “do not at present have an adequate level of protection in the U.K.,” Johnny Ryan, a senior fellow at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, wrote in a letter to the European Commission on Monday.

The U.K. “lacks an effective independent supervisory authority that is capable of enforcing compliance with data protection law and vindicating data subjects’ rights,” added Ryan.

Without a so-called adequacy decision from the EU by the end of the year, companies would be thrown into legal limbo and no longer be able to transfer data safely across the English Channel. At the risk of hefty fines under the EU’s strict data protection rules, U.K. companies that rely on data flows to and from the bloc would have to quickly find alternatives, involving more paperwork.

An EU adequacy decision would be a green light for such transfers without restrictions. To get there, the U.K. will have to meet a number of strict conditions. One of them is “the existence and effective functioning of one or more independent supervisory authorities,” according to the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR.

The Information Commissioner’s Office, or ICO, said it’s “already equipped for its new role as U.K. data-protection supervisory authority both during transition and beyond” and is “supporting businesses in the run-up to the transition period with guidance and advice.”

The U.K.’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said in an emailed statement that it’s “committed to high data protection standards and the U.K. is a global leader in protecting people’s personal data.”

The ICO “already meets the EU’s criteria of an effective and independent data supervisory authority and is capable of fulfilling this role through the transition period and after it ends,” the DCMS said.

The Brussels-based commission declined to immediately comment beyond pointing out that adequacy talks with the U.K. are ongoing. It said the goal is to adopt a decision “by the end of 2020, if the applicable conditions are met.”

Ryan was until earlier this year chief policy officer at Brave Software Inc., which makes an ad-blocking browser. In 2018, he complained to the ICO about how search-engine companies and data brokers collected and processed masses of people’s most personal data for advertising purposes, calling it the largest data breach of all time.

The Irish data watchdog, partly based on a complaint by Ryan, opened a probe into Google’s data processing. The ICO published a report saying the advertising industry is underestimating the risks of real-time bidding.

Ryan also helped Brave file a complaint with the EU in April that member nations don’t comply with GDPR and leave their privacy watchdogs starved of resources.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
WhatsApp is rolling out a feature that looks a lot like Telegram.
Investigations Reveal Rise in ‘Sex-for-Rent’ Listings Across Canada Exploiting Vulnerable Tenants
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
×