Lifelong civil servant behind code

ELIZABETH Denham risks stepping into controversy with her new code on internet regulation.

The Information Commissioner has already made clear she is determined to take on the likes of Facebook.

Last autumn she said Mark Zuckerberg’s website had passed a ‘tipping point’ of unlawful behaviour and spoke of her ‘appetite’ for confrontation.

However her attempt to regulate web barons is showing signs of potentially backfiring.

With the plans of Home Secretary Sajid Javid to set up an internet regulator under attack over censorship, her children’s code is now in danger of being seen as a bureaucratic threat to people and businesses who rely on the web. Canadian Miss Denham, 59, is a lifelong civil servant with no experience in private commerce or business.

Appointed Information Commissioner in Britain in 016, the history graduate has successfully lobbied for the maximum fine her office can impose to be raised from £500,000 to several million – a policy going ahead next year.

She made her mark by fining TalkTalk £400,000 for security failings and hit Facebook with a £500,000 bill for its role in the Cambridge Analytica saga.

She also moved against the Leave.EU campaign and its backers and in March fined Vote Leave £40,000 for sending unsolicited text messages.

The mother of four is married to a retired computer scientist.