Lewis, Chris G. on Tuesday, March 22, 2005 at 9:40 AM said:-
> And I would say that whetehr a law is "good" or not
> depends on how many people follow it, and given the large
> number of companies, small and multinational, who come to us
> for data protection advice and audits, I'd say it's taken
> fairly seriously.
As has already more or less been intimated though, the DPA is also
frequently treated as a joke.
Accepting that many companies of all sizes will try to follow the DPA and
breach it only by mistake, others equally look for the deniable mistakes in
order to take advantage of the situation, and yet others will completely
ignore it, even when very clear advice on the available options and
constraints has been received. The ICO would appear to be in the difficult
position of having to try and differentiate between those approaches taken
by data controllers in order to equitably and consistently apply the act.
Unless of course all organisations should be prosecuted, come what may.
Where a very real problem for data subjects seems to arise is when they are
unable to recover recompense, or even the costs, for very real damages they
have suffered as a result of a data controllers actions or/and breach of
trust. There seems to be a discrepancy between the prosecution of a data
controller for a DPA offence and the ability of data subjects to become
aware of the source, let alone recover any damages for any DPA breach which
directly and adversely affects them.
When considering the figures quoted regarding prosecutions, also consider
those available for data subjects receiving costs to rectify damage
suffered, or even recompense, after all the DPA is there to protect data
subjects privacy within a freely functioning trading environment. Such
figures could equally well be a telling statement about the effectiveness of
the DPA in protecting living individuals.
Ian W
> -----Original Message-----
> From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection
> issues [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> Lewis, Chris G.
> Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 9:40 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Bad Law? (was Interview notes)
>
>
> I may be missing a point here, but the ICO has more than just
> court proceedings to deal with breaches of the DPA, so the
> number of successful court cases is not a good measure of how
> "good" the law is. Warning letters usually seem to do the
> trick (except with the solicitor mentioned earlier, of
> course). And I would say that whetehr a law is "good" or not
> depends on how many people follow it, and given the large
> number of companies, small and multinational, who come to us
> for data protection advice and audits, I'd say it's taken
> fairly seriously.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection
> issues [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> [log in to unmask]
> Sent: 21 March 2005 18:22
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [data-protection] Bad Law? (was Interview notes)
>
> Interesting discussion. My own view is that a bad law is one
> that is perceived to be so. If the law appears to be
> enforced in such a way that easy targets are the only ones
> attacked, then it appears the real criminals will always get
> away and will laugh at the authorities. If it appeared that
> the only people prosecuted for speeding or sexual offences
> were those who could not afford a decent lawyer then it would
> indeed be a indicator towards it being bad law.
>
> If the only offences prosecuted were the strict liability
> offences of a relatively minor nature - and the offences that
> had the potential to harm people were dropped - then it would
> appear to be a bad law or at least a bad enforcement policy.
>
> In truth both sides of this argument may be right. Maybe the
> ICO is only prosecuting those people who ignore his warnings
> or perhaps he is only pursuing those where he knows he will
> succeed. Both the illustrative cases in this thread will
> support both arguments - maybe we should just ask the ICO
> what his prosecution policy really is.
>
> I suspect his policy is related to his workload. (Oh you cynic!) ;-)
>
> Ian B
>
>
> Ian Buckland
> Managing Director
> Keep IT Legal Ltd
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