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 Please Note: The information given above does not replace or negate the need for proper legal advice and/or representation. It is essential that you do not rely upon any advice given without contacting your solicitor. If you need further explanation of any points raised please contact Keep I.T. Legal Ltd at the address below: 55 Curbar Curve Inkersall, Chesterfield Derbyshire S43 3HP (Reg 3822335) Tel: 01246 473999 Fax: 01246 470742 E-mail: [log in to unmask] Website: www.keepitlegal.co.uk ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 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 (all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^