Privacy, Data and Surveillance: Law and Practice (2026)

For the tenth year in succession, the Institute of Brand and Innovation Law’s highly regarded, privacy and data course will be held at the Faculty of Laws on February 16th and 17th 2026.

In 2026 a significant part of the event will explore aspects of the UK’s Investigatory Powers Act, its implementation and regulation. The IPA is legislation that regulates the powers of intelligence agencies and law enforcement to intercept communications and access data. This section of the course should be of interest to anyone interested in free speech, press freedom, modern democracy and accountability.

The customary group of world class speaker will address a variety of other topics. In 2026 these other topics will include:

• Data Protection and International Data Transfers
• Consent in Data Broking and Ad Sales Tech
• Press, Publicity and Privacy
• Current Cases from Privacy International
• Biometric Data: Its Collection & Governance
• Non-Disclosure Agreements: Their Use & Abuse
• The Forum Internum & Emerging Technologies
• Data, Security & Law Enforcement
• End to End Encryption - Requirements in the Online Safety Act.

The 2026 Keynote will be delivered by Professor Barry Friedman, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Professor of Law and Affiliated Professor of Politics, NYU School of Law, NY, USA. Professor Freidman will discuss Live Facial Recognition, Policing and Law Enforcement in the USA

The course takes a cross-disciplinary approach. This combination of law and practice is important if we are to take the practical implementation of privacy, of data protection and data security seriously.

Places are limited and early booking is advised

Previous year’s students have been complimentary, labelling their experience:
• “Fascinating.”
• “an excellent, if not terrifying, overview”;
• “brilliant, very information intense, but wonderfully conveyed”;
• “the right mixture of factual information and philosophical debate”;
• “The best course I have ever attended”.

The Schedule -

DAY 1 – 16 February 2026

09:00 Introduction
Speaker: Professor Amanda Harcourt, UCL

09:30 Session 1: The Forum Internum: The freedom to think.
In human rights law, the forum internum is our right to keep our own thoughts in our own minds, irrespective of what these thoughts might be or whomever they might upset or enrage. How has this concept developed and to what extent is it being eroded by today’s technologies and government policies?
Speaker: Louise Hooper, Garden Court Chambers

10:30 Session 2: Privacy, Reputation and the Public Interest
An overview of current and developing case law governing celebrity, personal privacy, the press and other mainstream media.
Speaker: Andy Lee, Partner, Brandsmiths LLP

11:30 Refreshment break

11:45 Session 3: Privacy International Current Cases
Governments and corporations are using technology to exploit us. Abuses of power can threaten our freedoms and the very things that make us human. Privacy International is a non-profit body that challenges such abuses in the courts, both domestic and international. We review their current case load, past successes and some failures.
Speaker: Ilia Siatsis, Privacy International

12:45 Lunch Break

13:30 Session 4: Data Interception & the History of Surveillance:
Exactly what it says on the tin!
Speaker: Bernard Keenan, UCL

14.30 Session 5: Introducing the UK's Investigatory Powers Legislation
This session will introduce students to the key themes of the recently-amended Investigatory Powers Act 2016, from the perspective of a telecommunications operator potentially facing obligations under it, and give practical tips on what one might do if one is on the receiving end of a request for assistance.
Speaker: Neil Brown, decoded.legal

15:30 Session 6: State Discretion in National Security Cases - a rethink?
National security cases traditionally require Courts and Tribunals to give discretion to state bodies and witnesses, particularly in respect of assessment of risk. What is the justification for this discretion? Do recent cases require a rethink?
Speaker: Jude Bunting KC,

16:30 Refreshment break

16.45 Session 7: The Independent Review of Applications under the Investigatory Powers Act
The IPA is not without its critics. But the Act does not operate without scrutiny. It is regulated by the IP Commissioner’s Office. A representative from the Commissioner Office will outline the regulatory framework and its application.
Speaker: Paul Williams, Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office

17:45 Day 1 ends

DAY 2 – 17 February 2026

09:30 Session 8: Personal Data and International Security
Europol, a long-time contributor to this course, supports both EU Member States and many non-EU partner states and international organisations. Data security and accuracy is absolutely vital in Europol’s work to prevent and combat all forms of serious international and organised crime, cybercrime and terrorism.
Speaker: Daniel Drewer, Europol

10:30 Session 9: End to End Encryption and Technological Governance in the OSA
The Online Safety Act may have laudable goals but it places controversial technical obligations upon technology companies. Do these threaten free speech, or jeopardise proprietary information and personal privacy?
Speaker: Jessica Shurson, University of Sussex

11:30 Refreshment break

11:45 Session 10: Non-Disclosure Agreements Their Use & Abuse
Should contracts designed to secure privacy and maintain confidentiality be allowed to conceal iniquity in relation to either corporations or the private lives of high-profile individuals?
Speaker: Edward Kemp KC

12:45 Lunch break

13:30 Session 11: The Regulation of Personal Data & Data Transfers
In a global marketplace the rules regulating the international sharing of personal data and preventing the misuse of private information are complex. We examine current case law and the international regulatory regime that affects us all.
Speaker: Jacob O’Brien, Brandsmiths

14.35 Session 12: The Consent Conundrum: Data Broking and Ad Sales Tech
The delivery of advertising and marketing has undergone a digital transformation in the last 20 years. Digital media is now at the heart of any successful campaign, but brand owners and agencies are also increasingly dependent on technology platforms to control the development, delivery and targeting of digital content. What contractual standards are there for the procuring and supply of ad tech and digital advertising? And what are the consents secured in this system by which private companies make profits by collecting the public’s personal data, from both public sources and private sources, and selling and licensing our data to third parties for a host of uses.
Speaker: Mark Hersey, Lewis Silkin

15:30 Refreshment break

15:45 Session 13: Biometric Data & its Governance:
Whether it is facial recognition systems, our fingerprints, our DNA, our voices or even our gait, all allow third parties to identify us. In some, if not most instances, this may be unexceptionable, but the use of our unique identifying characteristics should be collected, stored and used with caution. We examine the regulatory regime affecting the use of our biometric data.
Speaker: Mark Hersey, Lewis Silkin

16:30 KEYNOTE: Live Facial Recognition, Policing and Law Enforcement in the USA
Professor Barry Friedman, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Professor of Law and Affiliated Professor of Politics, NYU School of Law.

17:30 Course ends

Associated PUBLIC LECTURE - 21st January 2026
The guest speaker for 2026 will be announced shortly. Each year the course is preceded by a public lecture on a related subject. Past speakers have included cyber security expert Mikko Hypponen and data privacy campaigner, Max Schrems. In 2025 two journalists and their KC discussed their successes in December 2025 at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal.