Off the record: Privacy and the media in the digital era

Next year’s new pan-European data laws could be exploited to rewrite and eradicate history. Allan Prosser argues that we are sleepwalking into an era where digital records will be rewritten, disguised, and removed to protect reputation and vested interests and that, in the post-newspaper world, no one may notice the difference.

Next year’s new pan-European data laws could be exploited to rewrite and eradicate history. Allan Prosser argues that we are sleepwalking into an era where digital records will be rewritten, disguised, and removed to protect reputation and vested interests and that, in the post-newspaper world, no one may notice the difference.

There was a telling anecdote in the depths of the New York Times profile of the indefatigable Tuam historian Catherine Corless, who was honoured last month by Ireland’s journalists and news organisations with a special award for investigative research.