What is the basis of the normal practice of disclosing, at committal,
the defendant's name and the charges which have been laid? I haven't
checked, but I wouldn't be surprised to discover it was required
under court rules. If so, this information would exempt from the
non-disclosure provisions under s 35(1) of the DPA.
Maurice Frankel
Campaign for Freedom of Information
On 12 May 2004, at 17:22, Paul Ticher wrote:
> The Data Protection Act does not explicitly recognise the public
> domain. (A
> view also recognised by the Commissioner's staff in conversation.)
> The fact
> that something is in the public domain may, however, have implications
> for
> Data Protection: for example, the level of security required might,
> arguably, be lower in a particular case, since the consequences of
> unauthorised access would perhaps be less serious.
>
> Court proceedings are, of course, sensitive data. Which Schedule 3
> Condition is being met here? Note that Condition 5 only refers to
> sensitive
> information which has been *deliberately* made public by the Data
> Subject.
> There may sometimes be a case to be made that a disclosure such as
> this,
> without consent, meets one or other of the Conditions, but I don't see
> one
> labelled 'Administrative convenience'.
>
> Paul Ticher
> 0116 273 8191
> 22 Stoughton Drive North, Leicester LE5 5UB
>
> I hereby require any recipient of this message not to use my personal
> data
> for direct marketing purposes.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "datap" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 10:29 AM
> Subject: Re: Public domain if disclosed in court?
>
>
>> John,
>>
>> Whilst there is no duty of confidentiality attached to such
>> information
>> (see case below), there is still a right to privacy. Technically the
>> only people who should be privvy to this information within your
>> organisation are the individual, the line management and any HR
>> professionals involved.
>>
>> Whilst convictions are pronounced in open court, due to rehabilitation
>> and the article 8 rights to privacy, convictions information should
>> only
>> be asked for and given where necessary justifed and proportionate.
>> This
>> also allows rehabilitation to occur. To 'further publicise' (see
>> PECK v
>> UK, ECHR, CCTV footage of attempted suicide in public street given to
>> and broadcast in media) can attract damages.
>>
>> Were this not the case, All convictions would be available on a
>> national database for anyone to browse and the Police national
>> computer
>> would be public domian information. As it happens at present court
>> records are only searchable by time, date and place of conviction, so
>> unless you were in court at the time or know the exact time, date and
>> place of conviction it would make it extremely hard for this to be
>> 'public knowledge'.
>>
>> That being said, were the local papers/press/medis to have published
>> this information, then you are hardly telling anyone anything that
>> isn't
>> already in the public domain at that time? If this is not the case it
>> may even be a breach to state that 'an individual' has been charged
>> with
>> the misconduct, as people are likely to deduce the identity of the
>> individual. I assume you would claim a s34 exemption, or reason 5 of
>> schedule 3.
>>
>> Without knowing details of the misconduct it is difficult to go
>> further
>> - if the misconduct was a highly public affair (example of Nick
>> Leeson,
>> or beating a client in the public reception) - it is likely that this
>> information is public anyway.
>>
>> Hope this helps
>
>> Elliot v Chief Constable of Wiltshire
>> (Times Law Reports 11 July 1997)
>> No duty of confidentiality attached to convictions pronounced in open
>> court
>> 810H,
>>
>>
>> Ralph T B O'Brien
>> Group Data Protection Officer
>> Metropolitan Housing Group
>> 020 8829 8070
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>> Cambridge House
>> 109 Mayes Road
>> Wood Green
>> London N22 6UR
>>
>> www.mht-group.co.uk
>>
>> Views expressed may be those of the sender and may not reflect
>> Metropolitan Housing Groups policy.
>>
>>>>> John Hughes <[log in to unmask]> 12/05/2004 09:44:30 >>>
>> A bit of advice please ...........
>>
>> A group email has recently been sent to all members of staff to inform
>> them
>> that a former member of staff is currently in court charged with
>> alleged
>> serious misconduct. The email names the person, includes details of
>> the
>> charges and details of when the person worked here and in which
>> department.
>>
>> I have queried this on a number of counts, not least that it was not
>> necessary to disclose all this information to all members of staff.
>> The
>> response has been that it was done to inform everyone of the facts in
>> case
>> they field an external call - also that the information is in the
>> public
>> domain as it is being quoted in open court.
>>
>> Can anyone give me some guidance? Does the fact that this person is
>> currently up in court for "alleged" offences justify disclosure of
>> both
>> personal data (employment details) and sensitive personal data
>> (offences) to
>> everyone in his previous place of employment on the grounds that it is
>> now
>> in the public domain?
>>
>> Regards
>> John
>>
>> John Hughes
>> Data Protection Officer
>> Extension 5671
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>> All archives of messages are stored permanently and are
>> available to the world wide web community at large 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 : -
>> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/commandref.htm
>> (all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please)
>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ----
>> ------------------------------------------
>> This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
>> intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom
>> they are addressed.
>> If you have received this email in error please notify the
>> originator of the message. This footer also confirms that this
>> email message has been scanned for the presence of computer viruses.
>>
>> Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual
>> sender, except where the sender specifies and with authority,
>> states them to be the views of Metropolitan Housing Trust Ltd.
>>
>> Metropolitan Housing Trust Limited is Charitable, registered under the
>> Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965 No. 16337R.
>>
>> Metropolitan Home ownership is Charitable, registered under the
>> Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965 No. 16337R.
>>
>> Stepforward is Charitable, registered under the Industrial and
>> Provident
>> Societies Act 1965 No. 16337R.
>>
>> MHT Social Investment Foundation is Charitable, registered under the
>> Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965 No. 28795R.
>>
>> Refugee Housing Association Limited is Charitable, registered under
>> the
>> Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965 No. 20735R.
>>
>> Rushcliffe Homes Limited is registered with the Charity
>> Commission: No. 1095063.
>>
>> Scanning of this message and addition of this footer is performed
>> by SurfControl E-mail Filter software in conjunction with
>> virus detection software.
>>
>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>> All archives of messages are stored permanently and are
>> available to the world wide web community at large 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 : -
>> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/commandref.htm
>> (all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please)
>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> All archives of messages are stored permanently and are
> available to the world wide web community at large 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 : -
> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/commandref.htm
> (all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please)
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All archives of messages are stored permanently and are
available to the world wide web community at large 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 : -
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/commandref.htm
(all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|