Can I give myself a piece of paper? If my right hand passes a piece of
paper to my left hand, have I given it to myself? Surely the notion of
giving and receiving implies an element of relinquishing control and
assuming control. In the case of a confidential reference provided by and
for the use of the data controller (albeit by different agents of the data
controller within the organisation) there is no such relinquishing of
control, i.e. the data controller never actually gives the reference to
anyone, so no-one actually receives it, so it can remain
confidential???????? ;-(
Bob Wills
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Robert Wills Tel: + 44 (0)20 7679 7388
Director, Management Information
and Services Fax: + 44 (0)20 7679 7920
Registrar's Division
University College London e-mail [log in to unmask]
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Registry/MIS/whoweare.htm
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-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask]
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
[log in to unmask]
Sent: 04 May 2000 21:45
To: [log in to unmask]
Cc: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Confidential reference given by institution to same
institution
It appears to conflict with the earlier advice, until you read between the
lines. A confidential reference (and it must bear an unambiguous indicator
to that effect) remains confidential before and after it is GIVEN by the
data
controller. The data controller need not supply the reference when
approached by a data subject, assuming the data controller has a copy of it.
As the law says, "given or to be given by the data controller".
However, there is no such exemption from the subject access rules for
references RECEIVED by the data controller - even if the organisation is one
and the same.
Hope this helps to clear it up.
Ian Buckland
MD
Keep IT Legal Ltd
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