List members may be interested in this news release:
The Information Commissioner launched the 2004/5 Annual Report this morning.
Staff from Privacy & Data Protection Journal attended the launch event. In
his speech, Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, thanked his staff
for their hard work and support over the past year and dedicated the report
to them.
In the Introduction to the Annual Report, Mr Thomas commences with the
oft-used phrase, “Knowledge is Power.” He states that the phrase underlines
the importance of both Freedom of Information and Data Protection as the
21st Century gets into its stride. During the launch event, Mr Thomas stated
the laws entrusted to his Office were about “bringing information and
knowledge to the people.” He said the his office, which had doubled in size
over the past 4 years, and which now employs over 250 staff, would continue
to take a “practical down to Earth approach – to simplify for the majority
who try to handle personal information well, and tougher for the minority
who do not.”
Mr Thomas warned that his fears about the UK “sleepwalking into a
surveillance society” (a phrase he coined earlier this year) were now
becoming reality. He posed the question as to whether we were now “sprinting
into a surveillance society.” The Commissioner urged caution against a
knee-jerk reaction to the London bomb attacks and quoted from the Prime
Minister’s speech of yesterday, where Tony Blair stated that, “No amount of
surveillance can ever stop a suicide bomber getting on to a bus.”
The Commissioner repeated his concerns about the register that lies behind
the proposed identity cards (see cover page of Privacy & Data Protection,
Volume 5, Issue 7, to be published later this week).
Mr Thomas said that he would continue to work hard to dispel the “Data
Protection Myths” that continue to circulate in the media. The most serious
was the blaming of the Data Protection Act for the tragic events in Soham
last year. Less serious examples include the myth that data protection law
prevents parents from taking photographs of the children’s school nativity
play.
The Commissioner’s Office now has a new structure for the handling of data
protection complaints. Further details are set out in the Annual Report. Of
the more than 20,000 data protection cases handled by the Commissioner’s
Office in the past year, 88% of them were closed within 3 months.
The Commissioner continues to seek new and stronger powers to enforce the
Privacy & Electronic Communications Regulations 2003.
The Annual Report is available at www.privacydataprotection.co.uk/documents
Please let us know if you would like to unsubscribe from this updating
service by responding to this email with “unsubscribe” in the subject line.
Online bookings can now be made for the 4th Annual Data Protection
Compliance Conference, which will take place in London on 4th and 5th
October 2005. The keynote speaker is Philippe Renaudiere, Head of Data
Protection at the European Commission in Brussels. Philippe is responsible
for data protection compliance policy across the European Union. Ruth
Cullinane, Global Head of Data Protection at Barclays Bank, will be talking
on the subject of data security. Other speakers are the leading data
protection experts from the UK and beyond. For further details and to make
an online booking, please visit:
www.pdpconference.com
Lisa Braund
Privacy & Data Protection
Tel: +44 (0) 845 226 5723 Fax: +44 (0) 870 137 7871
Website: www.privacydataprotection.co.uk
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Privacy & Data Protection publishes both Privacy & Data Protection journal
and Freedom of Information journal - invaluable sources of news, articles
and guidance for all those who work in the field of data protection, privacy
and freedom of information.
Privacy & Data Protection Limited hosts two major annual UK events - the
Annual Data Protection Compliance Conference & Workshop Series and the
Annual Freedom of Information Conference & Workshop Series.
Details of our Data Protection training courses, at various UK locations,
can be found at www.privacydataprotection.co.uk/training
Details of our Freedom of Information Workshops in London, Edinburgh,
Glasgow and Belfast are located at www.foij.com/workshops
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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
Any queries about sending or receiving message please send to the list owner
[log in to unmask]
(all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|