1. The UK Information Commissioner stepped aside from his role this February. Under John Edwards' tenure, the ICO performed so badly that nobody noticed his absence until late April. This is why @openrightsgroup are launching a campaign to reform it. 🧵
Replies:
7
Boosts:
2
Archive.today: https://archive.today/tLalG
Wayback machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20260520214421/https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/the-ico-isnt-doing-its-job-why-the-data-watchdog-needs-to-be-reset/
Archival commissioned on May 20, 2026 at 9:44 PM UTC.
🗄️ #Webarchive
2. In a digital world, our right to data protection is the first line of protection against “computers says no”. We have no agency, no rights and no protections against unfair decisions or abuse if we cannot know what data people have about us, how they used it, and who they shared it with.
3. However, institutions are what define if our rights work in practice or not. This is why the role of the ICO in hollowing out our digital rights matters. Take the Grenfell Tower as an example: fire and safety regulations are worth nothing if they aren't enforced.
Archive.today: https://archive.today/fR4Fd
Wayback machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20260520214828/https://www.qmul.ac.uk/news/latest-news/2024/hss/grenfell-was-not-a-state-failure--it-was-institutional-violence.html
Archival commissioned on May 20, 2026 at 9:48 PM UTC.
🗄️ #Webarchive
4. Back to data protection: while John Edwards stepped aside to allow an HR investigation to do its course, the ICO are also being restructured into a Commission, due to the UK data protection reform. We have a unique opportunity to fix a failed institution.
Archive.today: https://archive.ph/swuBa
Wayback machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20260520215048/https://www.theregister.com/on-prem/2026/04/27/ico-boss-edwards-steps-back-amid-workplace-investigation/5222705
Archival commissioned on May 20, 2026 at 9:50 PM UTC.
🗄️ #Webarchive
5. But how did we get here, and what needs fixing? While the ICO was never perfect, things escalated in 2021, when Boris Johnson's government leveraged political appointments and corporate capture to set the country away from the EU.
https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/wanted-corporate-lobbyist-to-take-over-the-ico/
