Statement: 17 June 2011
Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, said:
“In December of last year, my office received a complaint about claims that emails between senior executives and journalists at the News of the World had been lost while being transported to India. We have received assurances from News Group Newspapers (NGN) that in fact no emails were transferred to India. I have seen no evidence to contradict this assurance and have concluded that NGN is likely to have complied with the rules set out in the Data Protection Act (DPA) relating to the transfer of personal data (Principle 8).
“This case also raised the question of whether information had been kept secure, a separate requirement of the DPA (Principle 7). We have asked NGN to provide us with meaningful answers to questions about the alleged loss and apparent subsequent recovery of the emails. However, they have declined to do so because the matters in question remain sub judice pending final decisions being made in respect of an appeal application.
“Given that the matter remains sub judice and there is a lack of firm evidence that the emails were actually lost or that any damage or distress has been caused to the data subjects of the emails, my investigation is closed.
“If the current situation changes substantially or further evidence is brought to our attention, we will review the case.”
Notes to Editors
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The ICO has specific responsibilities set out in the Data Protection Act 1998, the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003.
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