Thanks to everyone who has responded and provided answer to the question both on and off the list. I think that we may suggest that ownership is out of the question, which then raises a fundamental question (perhaps always implicit) about the nature of the rights to information especially regarding "personal" information.
If you as a person are more than a collection of rights, then how is that expressed in the modern information state? In that sense, if we do not own information, do we begin to see the possibility that we do not own ourselves, but are only a physical representation of our legal rights (either enforceable or unenforceable) only to be respected by the state according to the state's logic?
If that is the case, then the so called right to privacy, simply becomes a relational right much like access to a specific piece of property (like common land) which one may gain control over, but never fully possess. The search for privacy or the belief that the state invades privacy is a misunderstanding of our right to information, our right to our personal information. The search for privacy might as well be a search for the horizon, we can steer by the idea, but we never arrive at it. By that I mean, the increased demand for and control of personal information by the state, through processing of "personal" information, simply illustrates a political philosophical point raised but never fully consummated since Plato's Republic in that we are but creatures created by the state and therefore nothing more than what the state defines us.
The increased control of our "personal" information raises a fundamental question of what it means to be a person (to be human) in relationship to personal information. If we do not have a natural right to privacy or to our information, and it is only generated by the state enforced right, per the decision mentioned by Phil, then does that limit the extent that we as people can access our rights to our personal information against the state, which in a sense, is (in itself) a human creation.
Perhaps the judgement in Fairstar may yet be overturned in some future information state, if the trend towards a digital person continues.
Thanks again for the interesting and insightful comments. I really appreciate the help and advice the participants on this list offer. I hope my contribution goes some way in repaying that excellent and abundant help.
Best,
Lawrence
Principal Information Management Officer
Durham County Council
Room 4/140
County Hall
County Durham
DH1 5UF
03000 268038
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