Dr Jonathan Davies on 28 September 2004 at 10:20 enquired:-
> Hi,
> In relation to the question of assigning ethnic origin to people, I'm
> currently pondering the merits of a photo database which is largely
> dedicated to clear shots of individuals within an institution who have
> (I've been assured) provided their verbal consent for the photos to be
> taken for promo/marketing purposes. The data accompanying each image
> occasionally includes name, but always includes broad ethnic category
> (as presumed by the photo cataloguer). I've been told that this is
> common practice for classification in photo libraries, but I've
> personally had no experience of this and feel a little uneasy. Any
> comments appreciated.
Personal view.
The intended purpose that particular personal data will be used for is of
prime importance in determining the source viewpoint.
i.e. one assumes some photo cataloguers would be using that information to
classify by physical description, for later retrieval of images of a similar
physical likeness, where they may not see ethnicity being of prime
importance to them.
Personal data collected for many purposes needs to incorporate the
viewpoints of the data subject if their own perspective/self image is to be
respected - the first principle of the DPA 1998 is aimed at supporting that
autonomy of self image.
Like names, and e-mail addresses people do seem to extract ethnicity
depicted in photographic images, physical appearance, and accent,
differently in many respects. There is likely to be less deviance about
their ethnicity in a data subjects own private perspectives, and they will,
at that time, incorporate an appropriate degree of respect to the data
subject.
Ian W
> -----Original Message-----
> From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection
> issues [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> Dr Jonathan Davies
> Sent: 28 September 2004 10:20
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: assigning ethnic origin to people
>
>
> Hi,
> In relation to the question of assigning ethnic origin to people, I'm
> currently pondering the merits of a photo database which is largely
> dedicated to clear shots of individuals within an institution who have
> (I've been assured) provided their verbal consent for the photos to be
> taken for promo/marketing purposes. The data accompanying each image
> occasionally includes name, but always includes broad ethnic category
> (as presumed by the photo cataloguer). I've been told that this is
> common practice for classification in photo libraries, but I've
> personally had no experience of this and feel a little uneasy. Any
> comments appreciated.
>
> Jon Davies
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Michael Doherty
> Sent: 24 September 2004 17:13
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [data-protection] assigning ethnic origin to people
>
>
> Afternoon all,
>
> I suspect you might receive some fruity responses to the subject
> information notices your colleagues will no doubt send out. Many years
> ago an organisation I worked for took a view that it could guess
> ethnicity to help it abide by an equal opportunities policy.
> I and many
> others found their guesswork was wrong (apparantly my ethnicity was
> worked out from my accent which is pretty much SE England
> standard). The
> fuss could be heard for miles. The organisation scrapped the exercise
> and proceeded to try to collect the information openly with consent:
> only to find people were so angry very many refused to
> conform. Suggest
> it's done right the first time. Regards
>
> MD
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