I wasn't going to reply to the criticisms of my views on
the unimportance of the data protection act compared with
catching dangerous criminals but since, judging by the
responses, librarians seem to be such a legalistic bunch I
feel I must.
Obviously it is desirable that the police go through the
proper channels, but they will not ask for access to a
database such as the one Hannah mentioned unless they know
that it exists! However Hannah said that she was told by
the data protection officials that "if the police ask
us for information and we believe that we would be
hindering their investigations by not supplying it then we
can share what we know, but we can't approach them and
offer our assistance."
The implication seems to be that the police ought to be
kept in ignorance of the existance of a potentially useful
database. Quite frankly if that is the attitude of the
officials responsible for data protection they ought to be
fired! As I pointed out we are talking about very serious
crimes. What would the attitude of those officials be if
they, or members of their own families, had been the
victims? How would the librarians who advocate an
unco-operative legalistic approach feel if they or their
relatives had been the victims?
Maria wrote "The DPA is there for a reason." Similarly
Charles wrote "I find the idea that 'quibbling' about the
law will help criminals is a very dangerous thin end of
the edge. Data protection law is there for a good reason;
Librarians, and the police, must obey it. If disclosure to
the police was NOT ticked, then the data controller cannot
pass the information to the police even if requested."
I am suspicious of "thin end of the wedge" arguments, but
since Charles used that expression and also stressed the
importance of obeying the data protection law, I think I
should point out that unthinking adherence to the letter of
the law could also be the "thin end of the wedge." No
doubt the German military code in World War II, like that
of any army, said that orders should be obeyed, but the
"only obeying orders" excuse was not accepted at the
Nuremberg trials.
I would not want the police, or anybody else, to invade my
privacy, but if my records were in a database and they
thought that having access to that database would help to
solve a serious crime then I would have absolutely no
objection to them using it, and it would not matter to me
at all what boxes had been ticked or what the data
protection legislation said.
To argue that one's privacy is more important than helping
to catch dangerous criminals strikes me as being a very
anti-social attitude - though I mean no offence to anyone
who sincerely holds the contrary view.
Roy Davies
University of Exeter Library
On Tue, 1 Feb 2000 10:04:24 -0800 (PST)
=?iso-8859-1?q?M=20B?= <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> As librarians we are not here to make a moral
> judgement. Do we stop putting books on abortion in
> public libraries because an individual librarian
> believes it to be morally wrong?
>
> The DPA is there for a reason. If there is a database
> the police think can help them, they'll work it out
> and gain access to it though the proper channels.
>
> Maria
>
> --- Roy Davies <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > The original enquiry was about a very serious
> > offence, not
> > something trivial like parking fines! In a case like
> > this I
> > would have thought that what is important is what is
> >
> > MORALLY right. If librarians have information
> > relevant to cases of rape, grievous bodily harm or
> > muder, then quibbles about the law on data
> > protection will
> > help the culprits to escape and will, quite
> > justifiably,
> > bring both librarians and the law into disrepute.
> >
> > Roy Davies
> > University of Exeter
> >
> > On Fri, 28 Jan 2000 17:08:42 GMT Infologistix
> > <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> > > Dear Hanah and Lis-Link,
> > >
> > > As a non-lawyer, but someone who has to
> > comply with the Data
> > > Protection Act, I would have thought you would be
> > on very thin ice.
> > >
> > > Unless all your tenants are serial rapists
> > or suspects you would be
> > > handing over personal data on the off-chance that
> > it might be useful, with
> > > very little control of what it would then be used
> > for.
> > >
> > > I thought this was just what the the DPA
> > was supposed to prevent.
> > >
> > > I would not feel happy handing over such
> > data unless someone had
> > > sifted it or qualified it by some measure of
> > reasonable suspicion.
> > >
> > > John Ross
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > At 13:39 28/01/00 -0000, you wrote:
> > > >Dear All,
> > > >
> > > >Here's a puzzler for a Friday afternoon:
> > > >
> > > >I work for a social landlord in Bath looking
> > after (among other things) a
> > > >database of our 10,000 properties in the city of
> > Bath and surrounding area.
> > > >On Tuesday's Crimewatch there was an appeal about
> > a serial rapist in Bath
> > > >and my immediate thought was that maybe the
> > records I look after would be
> > > >useful - they detail who lived where and when
> > back to at least the early
> > > >nineties.
> > > >
> > > >Just to be on the safe side I okayed it with my
> > boss. 'Fine,' she said, 'but
> > > >check the data protection issues.' I had a look
> > on the website (
> > > >http://www.dataprotection.gov.uk/
> > <http://www.dataprotection.gov.uk/> ) and
> > > >couldn't find the answer so I phoned the
> > information line. The limited
> > > >information I received was that if the police ask
> > us for information and we
> > > >believe that we would be hindering their
> > investigations by not supplying it
> > > >then we can share what we know, but we can't
> > approach them and offer our
> > > >assistance.
> > > >
> > > >My question really is how accurate is this? Are
> > there any exceptions when
> > > >the act is applied to the police?
> > > >
> > > >Any help would be gratefully received.
> > > >
> > > >Many thanks
> > > >Hannah
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >Hannah Cooke BA (Hons)
> > > >Management Information Officer
> > > >Somer Community Housing Trust
> > > >Westmoreland House
> > > >Westmoreland Street
> >
> > > >Lower Bristol Road
> > > >Bath BA2 3HE
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >01225 326057
> > > >int 6057
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> > [log in to unmask]
> > > >
> >
> >
> >
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