UK Court Confirms Privacy Tort And Addresses Meaning Of Personal Information

On January 16, 2014, the English High Court of Justice issued reasons in Vidal-Hall v. Google Inc. relating to an appeal of a Master's decision to allow Google to be served outside of the jurisdiction in relation to claims brought in connection with tracking and collating, information relating to the claimants' internet usage through the claimants' Apple Safari internet browser.

Importantly for the UK, the High Court explicitly recognized the tort of misuse of private information (at para. 70).

Perhaps more far-reaching, at least from the perspective of the ongoing debate in Canada and elsewhere concerning the boundaries of what is "personal information", the High Court addressed the argument that the information generated by the claimants' searches and used in interest-based advertising was not really personal information.

...