Francis Aldhouse, solicitor, worked as deputy to the first Information Commissioner (formerly Data Protection Registrar) from 1985 to 2006. Gave evidence on his involvement in Operation Motorman during that time.
Facebook's Director of Public Policy for Europe, Middle East and Africa at time of Inquiry. Gave evidence on his role in ensuring that the platform did not violate privacy laws within each country of use and in removing information which was libellous or violated the terms of service. Asked whether Facebook ever sold personal information to third parties, he replied that it did not.
At the time of the Inquiry, Battle was Head of Compliance at Independent Television News (ITN), having worked as a lawyer in broadcasting since 2001. He previously worked at the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and Today newspapers.
General Counsel and Company Secretary at Everything Everywhere (EE) at time of the Inquiry and responsible for legal, regulatory and compliance matters within the company. Both T-Mobile and Orange are owned by EE. Gave evidence on historic requests and responses concerning hacking and accessing messages of phones.
Public policy and communications expert and at the time of the Inquiry Vice-President of Global Communications and Public Affairs for Google. Collins gave evidence on Google’s privacy policy, its removal policy on the UK (as opposed to US) site and its continuing evolution.
Telecommunications and internet technology-policy expert. Gave evidence to the Inquiry as Head of Global Public Policy at Twitter.
Divisional managing partner at law firm Lewis Silkin specialising in intellectual-property, advertising and marketing, privacy and data-protection, regulatory and reputation-management work. Crown represented the Bowles family at the Inquiry in relation to unwanted and invasive media attention following the death of their 11-year-old son in a coach accident that killed him and 27 others.
Researcher and senior lecturer in philosophy at Stirling University since 2002. Offered evidence to the Inquiry on the nature of ethical journalism and the "public interest".
Director of the Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media Research Centre and Professor of Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London. While at Goldsmiths, Curran held a number of visiting appointments including McClatchy Professor (Stanford), Annenberg Professor (UPenn), Bonnier Professor (Stockholm University) and NRC Professor (Oslo University). Told the Inquiry that he believed that a relationship had developed between the British press and politicians that was bad for journalism and bad for government. This had been characterised by periods of hostility punctuated by periods of close alliance as in the late 1930s and the mid-Thatcher era.
Detective Chief Inspector, Specialist Crime Department at the Metropolitan Police Service. Following promotion to Detective Chief Inspector in 2003 he became Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) on the Racial and Violent Crime Task Force. Gave evidence to the Inquiry of press “intrusion” when working on Operation Fishpool in the case of the Stephen Lawrence murder.
Head of Communications at Staffordshire Police at time of Inquiry and a graduate member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He outlined procedures for dealing with the press, including advice to police staff not to use the term "off the record" and to follow up with an email or phone conversation when guidance to a journalist had been given.
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards between 1999 and 2002, Filkin later led an inquiry published in 2012 relating to the News International phone-hacking scandal to "recommend changes to links between the police and the media, including how to extend transparency". She answered questions on her work at the Leveson Inquiry. She was appointed CBE in the 2014 Birthday Honours.
Independent adviser on regulatory policy and strategic issues in the communications sector, and a founder member of the UK-based media consulting group Communications Chambers. Submitted a report, "News Plurality in a Digital World", which examined the risks of concentration of ownership and looked at plurality of ownership in western democracies.
Tim Godwin had recently retired as Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service at the time of giving evidence. He joined Met in 1999 from Sussex Police, becoming Temporary Commissioner on two occasions and remaining in post until Bernard Hogan-Howe was appointed in 2011. Gave detailed testimony of meetings with politicians and the media and answered questions on the benefits and disadvantages of closer relations between the police and the media. He described some cooperation with media representatives but stated that he rarely accepted any form of hospitality and that every such event was recorded in his hospitality register.
Conservative MP for Surrey Heath and Education Secretary at the time of the Inquiry. A former journalist at the Aberdeen Press and Journal, the Times, the BBC and the Spectator. Told the Inquiry that sometimes "individuals reach for regulation in order to deal with failures of character or morality, and sometimes that regulation is right and appropriate but some of us believe that before the case for regulation is made, the case for liberty needs to be asserted as well".
Keller was employed as a legal director at Google at the time of the Inquiry. She gave evidence on search engines and Google policy on removing content. Keller has taught Internet Law at Stanford, Berkeley and Duke law schools.
Professor of Law and Innovation at Queen's University Belfast since 2017. Previously, Associate Dean of Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Reader in Law, at Newcastle University. Submitted academic work including on statutory controls of media content.
At the time of giving evidence, Megone was Professor of Interdisciplinary Applied Ethics at Leeds University, having led a successful £3 million bid for a new Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning in Inter-Disciplinary Ethics, of which he became director. Told the Inquiry that there was a significant public interest in a free press, but the social purpose or interest which the press serves is not guaranteed to be achieved simply by the freedom given by lack of censorship. The public had an interest in a press which was more than simply "free" in that sense, he said.
Former Director of Public Affairs, Europe and later Senior Vice-President of Government Affairs and Public Policy, Europe of News Corp. Was asked by the Inquiry to comment on his communications with representatives of government departments in the period June 2010 to July 2011 and his communications with Jeremy Hunt and Adam Smith of DCMS relating to the BSkyB bid.
Mockridge gave testimony as Chief Executive Officer of News International Group Limited, the role previously held by Rebekah Brooks, and provided information on several newspapers, including The Times and The Sun. Questioned about Rupert Murdoch's views on self-regulation of the press. Told the Inquiry that having only been in the UK a few months (he was previously in New Zealand and Australia) he was of the view that British press freedoms were envied by many around the world.
