At 10:43 01/05/00 +0100, you wrote:
>In-Reply-To: <00c701bfb249$d8d41e40$9747063e@dad>
>
>Dave,
>
> > Another issue regards councillors is how their identity is brought to
> public
> > attention. A local councillor friend discovered his personal profile
> > published on a council run web site. This being actioned without his
> > knowledge. Given his political persusion was also there the data appears
> > sensitive and appeared to require the councillors consent to hold and use.
The Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 (also
referred to as Section VA of the Local Government Act 1972)
requires local authorities to publish a list of councillors'
names, addresses and wards/districts. The Internet of course
was not considered as the possible publication medium back then,
but...
>Now, when it comes to matters of public record, surely there is no
>distinction
>between publishing on the Internet (by way of a web page) or publishing in
>the
>local paper (by way of a public notice) or publishing on a Council
>Noticeboard
>(located on the outside of the Council Offices)? All are acceptable under the
>Representation of the People Acts. Or have I misunderstood your point?
... guidance issued in 1997 under the 1984 Data Protection Act by the
Office of the DP Registrar (as she was then) concerning data protection
and the Internet made it very clear that publication on a public Web
page is a very different thing from publication on a piece of paper,
because of the potential for world-wide disclosure. It is the scale of
disclosure that makes Internet publishing different from paper-based
publishing. And of course under the 1998 Act disclosure beyond the
European Economic Area is forbidden unless certain conditions are met,
the easiest being obtaining the informed consent of the data subject.
Research that I have just carried out for a conference paper I'm
presenting tomorrow shows that out of all the local authority Web sites
in one County in England, 69% are not complying with the requirements
of the DPA on the issue of Web disclosure of personal data. A similar
survey of UK university Web sites that I did last year gave a figure of
62% for non-compliance in that sector.
Just one local authority that I surveyed had actually carried out a
consent-gathering exercise among their Councillors so that they could
publish full personal profiles on their Web site rather than just the
details required under legislation.
Best wishes,
Adrian
Adrian Tribe <[log in to unmask]>
Web Editor, Birkbeck College, University of London
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