In a message dated 16/01/04 14:50:56 GMT Standard Time, [log in to unmask]
writes:
> It's not just infringement of privacy we should be concerned about but also
> inaccuracy, inadequacy, irrelevance, excess data, retention longer than
> necessary etc.
--------
And so should our legislation. In the EC Directive preamble it says "any
person must be able to exercise the right of access to data relating to him which
are being processed, in order to verify in particular the accuracy of the
data and the lawfulness of the processing". No mention of the "privacy" which
the Appeal Court considered was the purpose of subject access.
Incidentally, the Appeal Court's comment that "none of the data sought by Mr.
Durant amounted to personal data and therefore his claim fell at the first
hurdle" does not sit well with the Directive's definition of personal data which
describes it as (extracts) "any information related to an identified or
identifiable natural person" and an identifiable person as "one who can be
identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to . . .one or more
factors specific to his . . . physical (or) economic identity." It is clear from
this - and the fact that the file would not have existed were it not for Mr
Durant's complaint - that the data is certainly "personal" and the only
question to be considered was whether it was held in a "structured set of personal
data which are accessible according to specific criteria, whether centralized,
decentralized or dispersed on a functional or geographical basis."
Perhaps the European Parliament should be invited to comment on what is meant
by "structured" and whether the UK law sufficiently reflects the Directive.
Ian B
Ian Buckland
Managing Director
Keep IT Legal Ltd
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