Keeping it secret – claims for confidential and/or private information (Part 1)

Following last year’s inaugural exploration of the media litigation toolkit, this year’s series will provide a practical refresher of the key topics in this area, including the recent and future developments.

In the digital age, information is disseminated faster, easier and with less accountability than ever before, posing significant risks and challenges to both individuals and organisations who want to control their reputation and information, and organisations working to manage vast amounts of news and content. The continued growth of social media and other forms of Internet communication has removed individuals from many of the restraints which previously applied. These technological developments have brought to the fore concerns around privacy and the misuse of personal data and confidential information. Alongside the technological developments, we have also seen a growth over the past few years in powerful social movements, which when combined with the technological developments can pose complex issues relating to content moderation and reputation management.

The law and practice of reputation management and confidentiality has, in turn, changed very significantly to address these trends and continues to evolve. One key and recent evolutionary step is the publication by the UK Government of the milestone Online Safety Bill (in draft form), which sets out new internet laws that will revolutionise the regulatory and litigation environment for online content, and which includes the introduction of new “duties of care” between online services and their users.

We will discuss how the law - in theory and practice - has developed to deal with inaccurate allegations and confidential and/or private information.  We will also provide practical tips and pointers both for managing and protecting the reputation and information of a company or individual, as well as for managing liability, across the three sessions.

If you would like to register for any of the sessions, please click on the link below. 

• 23 June - Keeping it secret – claims for confidential and/or private information 
• 30 June - Reputation management – dealing with inaccurate allegations
• 7 July - Media litigation in the Internet age, including a discussion on the draft Online Safety Bill