Editorial
This edition of Information Technology Law Reports contains a High Court decision, Transport for London v (1) Uber London Limited (2) Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association (3) Licensed Private Hire Car Association and one from the Court of  Appeal, Secretary of State for the Home Department v (1) David Davis (2) Tom Watson (3) Peter Bruce (4) Geoffrey Lewis and (1) Open Rights Group (2) Privacy International (3) Law Society of England & Wales (Interveners). The High Court ruled that the way the taxi hiring app firm Uber calculated fares based on a ‘meterlike’ system was not illegal. A driver’s smartphone with a driver’s app might be essential to enable the calculation to take place but that did not make it a device for calculating fares. Furthermore, it was the driver who was equipped with the phone, not the vehicle. The Court of Appeal was concerned with data retention and the Investigatory Powers Act 2014. The Home Secretary appealed on the grounds that the Divisional Court’s interpretation of Digital Rights Ireland Ltd and Seitlinger and Others(‘Digital Rights Ireland’) was wrong in that it did not lay down mandatory requirements to all Member States’ domestic data retention regimes. The Court of Appeal decided to refer questions concerning the meaning of the Digital Rights Ireland judgment to the CJEU to resolve the uncertainty.

Richard Budworth
Editor, Information Technology Law Reports

Transport for London v (1) Uber London Limited (2) Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (3) Licensed Private Hire Car Association 
High Court of Justice
Queen's Bench Division
Ouseley J
16 October 2015
[2015] EWHC 2918 (Admin)

Road traffic taximeter - GPS signals and data -calculation of fare ‒ mobile applications (apps) - statutory interpretation - Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998 sections. 2, 7, 7(2)(a), 8, 11(1), 11(2), 11(3) and 35 - declaration granted. 

Secretary of State for the Home Department v (1) David Davis (2) Tom Watson (3) Peter Brice (4) Geoffrey Lewis and (1) Open Rights Group (2) Privacy International (3) Law Society of England & Wales (Interveners)
Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
Patten LJ, Lloyd Jones LJ and Vos LJ
20 November 2015 
[2015] EWCA Civ 1185

Data - access - data retention - electronic communications - personal data - investigatory powers - privacy - Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014 - Directive 2006/24 on the Provision of Publicly Available Electronic Communication Services 2006 - Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union 200 - European Convention on Human Rights 1950 - application refused.