 |
 |
Thanks to all of you who responded so quickly. I've summarised the results as follows: Roger Cook gave the following list - Criminal Damage Act 1971 - should staff bust up the office computer Theft Acts 1984 & 1978 - in case staff steal the processors out the micro Police & Criminal Evidence Act 1984 - you need to know this one because you may be the first on the scene if a computer crime has been committed Telecommunications Act 1984 - esp. the bit about use of the PSTN for illegal material (catches the emailers this one) Copyrights Designs & Patents Act 1988 - software piracy, etc Computer Misuse Act 1990 - but S1 is thought to be inoperative Civil Evidence Act 1995 - useful for electronic evidence in debt cases Data Protection Act 1998 - you all know about this one!! Human Rights Act 1998 - still don't know how this is supposed to work Electronic Communication Act 2000 - digital signatures, etc Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 the one that allows MI5 to read your email. THIS HAS VERY SERIOUS IMPLICATIONS FOR ALL ORGANISATIONS THAT USE EMAIL. CHECK IT OUT! And last but by no means least, don't forget the Common Law offence "Misuse of Public Office". This is a neat one that applies to all "public servants". That includes Council staff, Councillors, Civil Servants and even Cabinet Ministers. If you cannot get them under the DPA, you can probably get them under this offence. Anne Kipling also included: Duration of Copyright and Rights in Performances Regulations 1995 Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 1996 Contempt of Court Act 1981 Defamation Act 1996 (libel) Obscene Publications Act 1959 (pornography) Criminal Justice Act 1988 (child pornography) Protection from Harassment Act 1997 Public Order Act 1986 (incitement of racial hatred) (Most of them are relevant to email and Internet use.) Other correspondents listed the following Freedom of Information The Companies Act (Duncan Smith said "... and if you're a Director, don't forget the Companies Act requires you to safeguard information (particularly finance information) from misuse (DPA 98 Principle 7 et al) Consumer Credit Act 1974 The Telecommunications (Data Protection and Privacy) Regulations 1999 Interception of Communications Act 1985 And for those of us in Local Government there is legislation such as the Local Government Finance Act Norma Martin mentioned the JANET factsheet "Computers and the Law" at http://www.ja.net/documents/factsheets/computers_and_the_law.pdf and Andrew Charlesworth referred to "New Developments in UK Internet Law" at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/pub00/smbp10.pdf Thank you all very much for your help! Colin Chinery Data Protection & IT Training Officer IT Division Tel: 0121 704 6251 Fax: 0121 704 8034 [log in to unmask] DISCLAIMER "This e-mail and files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately and delete the message. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Solihull Council." %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%