And following up Stuart's point for those of us who work in the HE sector - if
any of you have previously helped out Electoral Registration staff by sending
them lists of students based in your residences, you will have to either:
(i) discontinue this practice, or -
(ii) ask every student individually whether they want to opt-out of the
commercial lists before making any return.
Andrew Okey
Lancaster DP Project
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stuart Lynch [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 07 September 2001 11:23
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Electoral Roll and Junk Mail etc
>
> Section 9 of the Representation of the People Act 2000 makes specific
> provision for electors to opt out of having their details included in a
> register which can be sold for purposes not connected with elections (or
> certain other purposes to be clearly defined in secondary legislation).
> Each Electoral Registration Officer must produce two versions of the
> register - a complete version to use for purposes related to elections, etc,
> and a "commercial" version which excludes those electors who have opted out
> of the general sale purpose. In future, forms used to compile electoral
> registers must contain an opt-out clause to allow for this. I understand
> the opt-out clause was supposed to be included in secondary legislation, but
> that it is not available yet and canvassing for the first registers to be
> compiled under the new Act has gone ahead without the opt-out.
>
> Stuart Lynch
>
> The contents of this e-mail are the personal view of the author and should
> in no way be considered the official view of Wirral Metropolitan Borough
> Council.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 07/09/2001 09:50
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Electoral Roll and Junk Mail etc
>
>
> Interesting article in the news today:
>
> "A TEST case was being launched today over the legality of local councils
> selling information from electoral registers for commercial use. Brian
> Robertson decided to bring the High Court challenge as he objects to the
> loss
> of privacy and the junk mail which results from the registers' contents
> being
> sold to various companies, as well as credit reference agencies. Because Mr
> Robertson, of Pontefract, West Yorkshire, refuses to put his name on the
> register he cannot vote. Today his lawyers are applying to Mr Justice
> Maurice Kay for permission to seek judicial review, arguing that his
> fundamental democratic right to vote has been violated by being made
> conditional on him agreeing to have his name passed on for commercial
> purposes, when the franchise should be an absolute right. The lawyers are
> challenging Wakefield City Council's practice of passing on the personal
> details of local voters without giving them the chance to opt out, saying it
> breaches both human rights and data protection laws. "
>
> Given the undeniable right we all have under the DPA and the EC Directive on
> data protection to not have our data processed for direct marketing purposes
> should we all add the following words to our Electoral Registration form
> when
> it arrives:
>
> "This information is for election purposes only and should not be sold for
> any commercial purposes"
>
> or does the current UK law (Representation of the Peoples Act 2000) override
> our rights?
>
>
> Ian Buckland
> MD
> Keep IT Legal Ltd
>
> Tel: 01246 473999
> Fax: 01246 470742
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> Website: www.keepitlegal.co.uk
>
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