Derek
For any information a local authority is obliged to publish, there is a
piece of legislation which sets out what must be published. I have not seen
any legislation which specifies the form in which the information must be
published, so I have always concluded that there is nothing to prevent
publication on the internet. Several local authorities have published their
Planning Registers, for example, on the net.
What you must bear in mind is that publication of personal data on the net
is in effect a transfer of personal data outside the EEA (www. means
world-wide), so the eighth principle comes into play. Schedule 4 of the DPA
lists CASES WHERE THE EIGHTH PRINCIPLE DOES NOT APPLY, and these include
(Para 7) "The transfer is of part of the personal data on a public register
and any conditions subject to which the register is open to inspection are
complied with by any person to whom the data are or may be disclosed after
the transfer."
Obviously you would have no control over what a person accessing the
register on the net does with the data once they get them. However, if the
legislation does not specify any conditions to be complied with, it doesn't
matter.
As part of fair obtaining of personal data, you should inform data subjects
at the time of collecting the data that publication on the internet is
likely.
Hope this helps
Stuart Lynch
Stuart Lynch Consulting
Training/Consultancy in
Privacy/Information Protection
01704 870365
mailto:[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Derek Ford
Sent: 17 January 2002 11:23
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Public Documents
Is it legal to put public documents on the internet?
Could we put our electoral register (public document) on the internet and
make it searchable?
Thoughts from others appreciated.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|