MR JUSTICE WARBY
Approved Judgment
NT1 & NT2 v Google LLC
(g) the commission or alleged commission by him of any
offence, or
(h) any proceedings for any offence committed or alleged to
have been committed by him, the disposal of such proceedings
or the sentence of any court in such proceedings.”
The claimants each contend that by returning against an internet search of his name
the URLs complained of Google is and has been making available to internet users the
information contained in the third party publications and thereby processing the
claimant’s personal data, some or all of which is sensitive personal data within the
categories set out above. The claimants contend that the processing has been carried
on by Google in breach of the duty imposed by DPA s 4(4), because it is noncompliant with one or more of the six data protection principles cited above. The
claimants’ case is that in breach of these principles the information returned by
Google is in some respects inaccurate, and in any event “way out of date and … being
maintained for far longer than is necessary for any conceivable legitimate purpose
…”.
25.
Google denies the allegations of breach in any event, but it relies on a carve-out from
the duty imposed by DPA s 4(4). As already noted, that duty is expressed to be
“subject to s 27(1)”. Section 27(1) provides that “References in any of the data
protection principles or any provision of Parts II and III [of the Act] to personal data
or to the processing of personal data do not include references to data or processing
which by virtue of [Part III of the DPA] are exempt from that principle or other
provision.” One set of exemptions provided for in Part III is to be found in s 32,
headed “Journalism, literature and art”. Those three activities are defined in DPA s 2
as “the special purposes”. I shall refer to s 32 as “the Journalism Exemption”.
Google’s right to rely on the Journalism Exemption is contested by the claimants, and
the ICO.
26.
The claimants each seek three remedies: an order for the blocking and/or erasure by
Google of their personal data, an injunction to prevent its further processing, and
damages.
27.
The claims for blocking and/or erasure rely on DPA ss 10 and 14. Section 10 gives
data subjects a right to object to processing that is likely to cause damage or distress
and a corresponding right, if the data controller does not stop the processing
complained of, to seek a Court order prohibiting such processing. At one stage,
Google was contending that NT1’s “section 10(1) notice” was non-compliant with the
statute, but Mr White has not in the end pressed that point so it is sufficient to set out
the provisions relating to the Court’s powers, which are contained in s 10(4):
“If a court is satisfied, on the application of any person who has
given a notice under subsection (1) which appears to the court
to be justified (or to be justified to any extent), that the data
controller in question has failed to comply with the notice, the
court may order him to take such steps for complying with the
notice (or for complying with it to that extent) as the court
thinks fit” (emphasis added).