Summarising the responses:
It appears the consensus is that processing information relating to
whether someone smokes or not is NOT a sensitive data issue despite the
obvious health connotations.
As a number of people point out, smoking is possibly a habit, but is not
a condition of health, and not all smokers are addicts!
Processing data relating to lifestyle and habit is covered by the
standard data class C201, and is not considered sensitive.
If, for some as yet unforeseen reason, this data were ruled sensitive,
then it could be processed without explicit consent for the purposes of
carrying out Insurance business (See SI 2000 No. 147), but not for
renting out my flat!
Anyone disagree?
-----Original Message-----
From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Duncan Smith
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2001 2:27 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Smoking - sensitive or not?
If I ask someone whether they smoke or not, am I obtaining sensitive
information given that,
<snip>
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