Apologies if this has already been picked up.
The Department of Constitutional Affairs is running a consultation on the
penalties of misuse of data - the suggestion is to increase them from fines
to the possibility of prison sentences. The document was published on
Monday, I think. If you would like the chance to have your say, go to the
following website:
http://www.dca.gov.uk/consult/misuse_data/cp0906.htm
<http://www.dca.gov.uk/consult/misuse_data/cp0906.htm>
The point has been made by others (I read the argument on the Spy Blog
-http://www.spy.org.uk/spyblog/ <http://www.spy.org.uk/spyblog/> - which is
full of Data Protection and surveillance stories if you haven't seen it),
but an increase in penalties is only interesting if the penalties are
applied. After all, the job of every DP officer would be made that little
bit easier if the worst DP offenders actually ended up doing some time. But
Data Protection has hardly been over-enforced since its introduction, so
perhaps one of the things the DCA should introduce if they decide to
increase the penalties is some obligation to apply them.
Tim Turner
Data Protection / FOI Officer
Legal and Property Services
Wigan Council
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