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It´s been a while since i heard any buzz about the so-called Blockbot (which is a programme that lists thousands and thousands of users on Twitter for automatic blocking). But i think it´s safe to say that the blockbot has once again sparked a lot of controversies. And that would explain why i´ve seen headlines such as “The UK Authorities Confirm They Are Taking Action Regarding the Block Bot via Cathy Brennan” all over Twitter today.

So who is Catherine “Cathy” Brennan? Well, she´s a proclaimed radical feminist and columnist for Baltimore OUTloud’s LGBTQ blog section. And now you’re probably wondering “And what does Cathy have to do with the Blockbot? I´m glad that you asked that question. Well, apparently Brennan sent an e-mail to UK ICO (Information commissioner’s office) about the Blockbot (as seen down below).

Catherine “Cathy” Brennan´s e-mail to UK ICO

And by the looks of it, Cathy is really upset over how the Blockbot is handling her personal information. Thus, UK ICO has given the Blockbot´s representatives 28 days to respond to all of this. I´m not a lawyer, but “if” the Blockbot´s representatives chose to ignore UK ICO´s request for an answer. Then there might actually be a lawsuit against the Blockbot.

And why is that of any interest to us? Because “if” that´s the case, then it means that other similar services (such as the ggAutoblocker for example) might end up in court as well. So it’s going to be very interesting to see how all of this will evolve over time.

Source:
http://redd.it/352y3f

https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1554/determining-what-is-personal-data.pdf

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/03/20/bbc-featured-block-bot-runs-into-legal-trouble/

https://twitter.com/theblockbot