The trial was focused on the case of Professor David Carroll – a New York-based academic – who in January 2017 requested copies of his own personal data that CA held. Carroll also requested explanations for how this data had been sourced, how CA’s “predictive” conclusions about him had been reached and which third parties CA had shared the data with.

After CA failed to fulfil Carroll’s request, he submitted a complaint to the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which served an enforcement notice ordering it to comply with the request. When the deadline passed without CA conceding, the ICO began to build a criminal case against the company. In October 2018, CA entered a plea of not guilty of failure to comply with an enforcement notice.

Speaking for the ICO at Hendon Magistrates Court, North London, prosecutor Ben Summers said that even after being served with an enforcement notice by the ICO, CA “took no steps to comply” with the subject access request. Summers explained that the ICO was frustrated by CA’s steadfast resistance to comply with Carroll’s request, even arguing in an email that – as a US citizen – he had no more right to request his data than “a member of the Taliban sitting in a cave in a remote corner of Afghanistan”. Carroll’s request remains unfulfilled.

Sam Stockwell, representing SCL Elections, entered a guilty plea on behalf of the company. He explained that matters had been complicated by CA going into administration in May 2018, the day after the ICO enforcement notice had been served. CA no longer has access to Carroll’s data, which is contained within the “haystack” of 700TB data servers seized by the ICO last year, he explained. SCL Elections’ administrators – which have not been granted access to the company’s data and are therefore uncertain of its financial situation – were responsible for providing legal representation.  

In sentencing, District Judge Kenneth Grant agreed that CA had shown a “wilful disregard” for the ICO’s enforcement notice. He announced a £15,000 fine, in addition to £6,000 in costs and a small victim surcharge. Carroll commented on Twitter that he was “vindicated again”.

The case was repeatedly described as a “discrete part” of a much broader matter relating to CA’s harvesting of 87 million Facebook users’ personal data for the purposes of building highly targeted political advertising tools based on their personalities. These tools played a significant role in US President Donald Trump’s online campaign during the 2016 presidential election.

In July 2018, the ICO gave Facebook the maximum possible fine of £500,000 for its role in the scandal.

The trial was focused on the case of Professor David Carroll – a New York-based academic – who in January 2017 requested copies of his own personal data that CA held. Carroll also requested explanations for how this data had been sourced, how CA’s “predictive” conclusions about him had been reached and which third parties CA had shared the data with.

After CA failed to fulfil Carroll’s request, he submitted a complaint to the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which served an enforcement notice ordering it to comply with the request. When the deadline passed without CA conceding, the ICO began to build a criminal case against the company. In October 2018, CA entered a plea of not guilty of failure to comply with an enforcement notice.

Speaking for the ICO at Hendon Magistrates Court, North London, prosecutor Ben Summers said that even after being served with an enforcement notice by the ICO, CA “took no steps to comply” with the subject access request. Summers explained that the ICO was frustrated by CA’s steadfast resistance to comply with Carroll’s request, even arguing in an email that – as a US citizen – he had no more right to request his data than “a member of the Taliban sitting in a cave in a remote corner of Afghanistan”. Carroll’s request remains unfulfilled.

Sam Stockwell, representing SCL Elections, entered a guilty plea on behalf of the company. He explained that matters had been complicated by CA going into administration in May 2018, the day after the ICO enforcement notice had been served. CA no longer has access to Carroll’s data, which is contained within the “haystack” of 700TB data servers seized by the ICO last year, he explained. SCL Elections’ administrators – which have not been granted access to the company’s data and are therefore uncertain of its financial situation – were responsible for providing legal representation.  

In sentencing, District Judge Kenneth Grant agreed that CA had shown a “wilful disregard” for the ICO’s enforcement notice. He announced a £15,000 fine, in addition to £6,000 in costs and a small victim surcharge. Carroll commented on Twitter that he was “vindicated again”.

The case was repeatedly described as a “discrete part” of a much broader matter relating to CA’s harvesting of 87 million Facebook users’ personal data for the purposes of building highly targeted political advertising tools based on their personalities. These tools played a significant role in US President Donald Trump’s online campaign during the 2016 presidential election.

In July 2018, the ICO gave Facebook the maximum possible fine of £500,000 for its role in the scandal.