Murray report: Thin line between personal privacy and national security

State access to the heaving digital sea that is people’s personal data was at the centre of two legal inquiries yesterday.

While the High Court addressed the transnational movement of data held by Facebook from its European headquarters in Ireland to the US, Mr Justice John Murray was examining access by law enforcement bodies to the communication data of journalists and citizens here.

And both inquiries pivot around the European Union Court of Justice: The High Court is now seeking a preliminary ruling from it, while the same court has driven jurisprudence on communications data.