Data Protection Law and Policy Coursework
Dave asks Bob for his address and phone number, so that he can find Bob’s house when he plans to visit him for a dinner party next week. Bob gives Dave this information. Dave writes the information down in a notebook, which he keeps at home.
Does Dave need to comply with the data protection principles and any other data protection rules as set out in the GDPR or Data Protection Act 2018?
Would your answer be different if Dave made photocopies of his address book and handed these out to everyone living on his street?
Explain your answer by way of reference to appropriate legislation, case law, and regulatory guidance.
The number of dogs being kept as pets in Portsmouth has recently increased. Worried about possible dog overcrowding, and the possibility of increased levels of dog faeces appearing in public spaces, Portsmouth Council plans to compile a database of local dog owners, for the purposes of monitoring dog ownership.
The database will contain pictures of dog owners’ faces, their contact details, and details regarding the breed of dog they own. The database will also contain aggregated statistical information regarding the total number of dog owners in the area, and the number of dogs. It is intended that the database will be kept indefinitely on a shared computer system that is accessible to all Council employees. The database will, however, be checked and updated every five years.
The Council has been told that, if this plan goes ahead, it will need to comply with rules set out in the GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018.
The Council seeks your advice on the following:
Whether this plan is lawful, and if so, what the most appropriate “legal basis” for any personal data processing is;
Whether the plan is compliant with the other data protection principles; and
Whether any aspects of this plan may be exempt from data protection rules.
Clarence has been a user of SurveillanceBook, a popular social networking website, for several years. He is, however, hoping to be elected as the Member of Parliament for Portsmouth in an upcoming election, and is worried that old pictures of him taking drugs, uploaded by a friend, might be discovered by the public and damage his election campaign.
Clarence’s friend refuses to take the pictures down, so Clarence writes to SurveillanceBook, asking for all personal data relating to him, including photographs, to be deleted from their servers. SurveillanceBook refuses his request, stating that they still need to keep some of his data for their own purposes.
Advise Clarence in respect of any possible remedies he might have under the GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018.
Trend Market is a retailer company registered in Australia and it runs an online shop via its website, “www.trendmarket.com.au” to deliver goods across the country. The company has no branch or office abroad. The website “www.trendmarket.com.au” is in English and is accessible from the EU, but it accepts payments only in Australian dollars and does not accept deliveries outside Australia. The company plans to branch out to the EU, and for this purpose, it analyses the potential demand for its products in the EU market. Anyone who uses the website has to accept cookies, which store information about users’ visits including the location from where they have accessed to the website. The company processes the data in order to determine how many users from which EU Member States access to the website and what they are interested in the most.
Trend Market’s rival in the UK, Glamour Market, is a retailer company registered in the UK. The company plans to change its operation for how it stores the data of its employees and considers storing employee data in a cloud service operated by Sky Platform Service, whose servers are held in the US.
Advise Trend Market in respect of the applicability of the GDPR and Glamour Market in respect of international data transfer rules under the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Word Limit: 3,000 words excluding footnotes and bibliography.
This is an individual assignment and carries 100% of the module mark
Submission Date and Hand in Arrangements: Friday 12th February 2021 by 11.55pm to Turnitin on the module Moodle page.
There are mark penalties for late hand in – see “Late Submission of Coursework” below. (Corruption of computer disks is not an adequate excuse for late hand in, as work should be adequately backed up.)
The word count should be stated at the top of the document. Failure to state a word count will result in a penalty of 5% of the original mark awarded. A falsely stated word-count is an assessment offence which may result in a penalty, including the reduction of the mark to 0%.
Note, that footnotes should be used to reference sources only. Examiners are free to disregard footnotes that contain inappropriate information or information that should belong in the main text. Coursework that is over the stated word limit will result in a penalty of 10% of the original mark awarded.
For the avoidance of doubt, the penalty will be applied to any work that exceeds the stated word limit of 3,000 words excluding footnotes and bibliography. Students are NOT permitted to exceed the word limit by 10% or any other amount.
Learning outcomes: This assignment assesses all of the module learning outcomes (below), and the following course learning outcomes:
A1 Explain the doctrines and principles of the law in England and Wales and the institutions and personnel that administer the law.
A2 Understand a variety of areas of the law in their social, political, economic and European contexts.
B4 Act with independence and intellectual curiosity making use of questions and feedback to reflect and develop knowledge.
C1 Analyse complex real or hypothetical legal problems and produce a reasoned conclusion.
C2 Use both Standard English and legal terminology with care and accuracy.
D2 Communicate verbally and in writing to a variety of audiences.
Module Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module, students should be able, at threshold level, to:
Demonstrate a wide-ranging ability to critically evaluate core concepts of data protection law by developing research, theoretical and practical understanding, so as to arrive at appropriate conclusions.
2 Demonstrate an awareness of practice-related issues and challenges pertinent to data protection law and policy.
3 Demonstrate an awareness and understanding of current/emerging legal and policy issues/challenges observable in the data protection field.
4 Work independently, and be able to reach reasoned conclusions from complex theoretical or problem-based data protection law-related scenarios, and provide advice and recommendations.
5 Demonstrate a comprehensive ability to form an argument through the research and synthesis of academic data protection law materials.
6 Communicate effectively about data protection law related ideas and concepts in a way that is comprehensible to others with knowledge of the subject.
Referencing requirements: Students must reference all sources using the Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA). Guidance on this method of referencing can be found at www.referencing.port.ac.uk. The OSCOLA quick reference guide is set out at the back of the Module Handbook, however, this should not be a substitute for familiarising yourself with the full official guidance. Reference should be made to the primary source, except when the primary source can no longer be obtained. Poor citation of sources will result in a loss of marks.
Referencing is required to give intellectual credit to your source, help your reader recover your source easily and to avoid being accused of plagiarism.
Students are reminded that the University will not tolerate academic dishonesty in any form. This is cheating. For further guidance see Student Handbook pages 8 and 9:
http://www.port.ac.uk/accesstoinformation/policies/teachingandlearning/filetodownload,73452,en.pdf
Plagiarism: Students are reminded of the need to avoid plagiarism. The University Regulations describe plagiarism as:
the incorporation by a student in work for assessment of material which is not their own, in the sense that all or a substantial part of the work has been copied without any adequate attempt at attribution, or has been incorporated as if it were the student’s own when in fact it is wholly or substantially the work of another person or persons.
Any student suspected of plagiarising will be referred to the Head of Department and an Academic Misconduct Hearing will be arranged. Students should ensure that all sources are fully cited in footnotes and in the bibliography and that indentation or quotation marks (as appropriate) are used when quoting. Failure to include a bibliography will result in a 5% penalty, unless the lecturer/tutor has advised you that a bibliography is not required.
Formatting: The work should be word processed. Font size should be between 11 and 14 and ‘easy to read’ e.g. calibri, arial, times new roman. Line spacing should be between 1.5 and 2 with (approx.) 4 cm margins all round. The Header must include the student number and the Footer must include a page number. Print on one side of the paper only.
Electronic Copy of Work: Students should retain an electronic copy of their coursework, so that it may be checked by a member of staff should a member of staff feel the need to do so. Tutors are entitled to request an electronic copy of coursework if they have any doubt about the accuracy of the stated word count and/or any suspicion of plagiarism. Failure to send an electronic copy of the coursework to a member of staff who has asked for a copy may result in a penalty.
If any student has a query about any of the above matters and wishes to obtain clarification or further information please contact the module coordinator or personal tutor
Feedback: Marking will be done in accordance with the marking criteria grid below and the University of Portsmouth grading criteria for UG levels 5 and 6. Marks and feedback will be available by Monday 15th March 2021 from the Undergraduate Assessment centre and from Turnitin.
If there is any delay in the processing of marks, the module coordinator will communicate this to you and make arrangements for the marks to be posted on Moodle so that you receive them as soon as they are ready.
Individual feedback will be attached to your coursework. This will highlight the strengths of your work and identify development points to help you improve your performance in the future. General feedback on performance in coursework will be posted on the module Moodle site.
Please note that all coursework and exam marks remain provisional until they have been confirmed by the Module Assessment Board.
Part 12 paragraph 1.4 of the Examination and Assessment Regulations September 2013 makes it clear that students may not question the academic judgement of the examiners and states that any requests for a review of a mark based on such grounds alone will be dismissed.
Students can only request a re-mark under the following circumstances: there has been a material and significant administrative error; or there has been a procedural irregularity in the assessment process as defined in the Examination and Assessment Regulations. You can obtain a full copy of the Regulations by following this link:
http://www.port.ac.uk/accesstoinformation/policies/academicregistry/filetodownload%2C163713%2Cen.pdf
Although you cannot question the academic judgement of a lecturer, we are happy to meet with you to discuss your performance. Lecturer’s weekly office hours provide a good time for this discussion and you should approach your seminar tutor in the first instance. However, you must make sure that you have read and reflected on your individual feedback before you get in touch with a tutor to arrange a meeting to discuss your work.
Late Submission of Coursework
Coursework submitted after the published submission date without a valid Extenuating Circumstances Form (ECF), but within ten working days of that date, will be marked. The mark awarded will be limited to the module pass mark (40% unless otherwise specified in the module handbook).
Coursework submitted more than ten working days after the published submission date will not be marked, and a mark of zero will be recorded on the student’s record. It will be recorded as a non-submission.
