At 2:26 pm +0000 on 29/01/02, Tony Angel <[log in to unmask]> wrote :

>I think that this issue needs to be put to bed. It is only in 1984 where
>history gets rewritten (I think!).

Oh, dear - who's rewriting anything? But yes, the issue needs
resolving - although surely not by ignoring all objections in favour
of a quiet life...

>In a sense this is a club and the club rules say that the archives are
>available to anyone to view. Consider this forum as a society meeting where
>the emails are the minutes of the meeting.

A demonstrably false analogy. IF this were a club, members would have
decided themselves what they thought appropriate; and, if
circumstances later changed, could have voted on new proposals. What
we appear to have instead is 'It has been decided... accept it or
leave'.

>This is no different to belonging to any professional organisation that
>minutes its meeting and those meetings are published in its Journal, and
>then that Journal can be read by the general public if they know which
>libraries stock that journal.

Yes, it is. Think about it for a moment - NO published minutes record
ALL that happens in a meeting; specifically, personal details are
largely - and appropriately! - left out. What we have on this list is
instead analogous to the meeting itself; so what's being stored and
published is an exact transcript. To follow your analogy, imagine the
results if we tape recorded a professional organisation's meeting in
full, and then published the tapes...

>If you want to join in the debate openly then contribute to the list
>otherwise email the person directly.

I'm sure you don't mean it that way, but this does appear rather patronising!

>I think that this group is administered well deserve thanks.

Again, I don't think you're listening to what is being said. No one
is knocking the administrators - it's the new policies on storage and
publishing of members contributions to the list that has made some of
us concerned.

Essentially - anything posted here is now fair game for onward
publication. Any DTP officer admitting ignorance and seeking help
will have their request recorded and available forever to anyone who
wants to read it.

This may strike you as totally acceptable - but it sure worries me!

- duncan

PS Like all other posters to the list, every mailing I make results in
    a flock of 'I'm out of the office/ on a course/ on holiday/ etc. etc.
    emails from list members who haven't properly configured their mailers.
    If this is you, PLEASE check you've set up your auto-reply option properly!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
       All archives of messages are stored permanently at
      http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/data-protection.html
      If you wish to leave this list please send the command
       leave data-protection to [log in to unmask]
            All user commands can be found at : -
    www.jiscmail.ac.uk/user-manual/summary-user-commands.htm
  (all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^