Tim,
The President of the United States does not have access to all areas of the US government. There are areas which are on a need to know basis, such as sources and methods for espionage, covert activities and similar issues. Even on the more positive stuff, such as trade negotiations, the President may not have access to the trade secrets.
The point has to do with his or her role within the organisation. Ultimately, they are accountable, but they are accountable for the people that are responsible.
The Chief does not do all the jobs. They need to be able to be responsible for making sure all the jobs are done. If this were a PCT, would the lead physician need to be brain surgeon as well as podiatrist? They need to know the principles and who to employ to get the services done.
In the recent political debate this is the nonsense around the PM's salary as a benchmark. As Aristotle and Plato have shown, statesmanship is not a techne so it can be done by anyone. As a result, you or I could do the PM's job, but he could not do ours because he would not have the techne ie understand the legislation, how to apply the PI, carry out a Subject Access Request and redact personal information based upon the competing rights of applicant and third parties.
By contrast, the role of the PM (or any statesman) is about phronesis or judgement, which is not a techne, and therefore accessible to all of us. In the classical world, the leader could do all the subsidiary jobs. In the modern world, with a division of labour and technological specialism unimagined, that is not possible. As a result, we rely upon the concept of principal and agent to allow us to have responsibility and accountabilty separated but reconciled within the governance structure.
In other words, the CEO is accountable for having the people responsible doing their job appropriately.
Best,
Lawrence
From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tim Trent
Sent: 12 October 2010 16:00
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [data-protection] Information available to the chief executive
This is where my perplexity is.
The Chief Executive is the person with whom all bucks stop. To me this means that the CE should be granted access to all areas of the business. It may be prudent to log access to sensitive parts, and certainly prudent to remind about DP duties, but that is process, nothing more.
However there is no such reason to grant the Chief Accountant access to the Chief of Customer Service's records. Indeed that should not happen.
The thing about a Chief is that they are the person who "does the job" so the Chief Executive of Tesco "does" all the jobs in Tesco. Patently this is impossible, so tasks are divided and delegated and re-delegated. But the CEo of Tesco is, effectively, the disciplinary team, the HR team in charge of the disciplinary process, and the HR director, He simply delegates those functions.
I take your cultural point and understand it. I interpret your "need to know" differently from you, though.
If I am responsible for something I must have unfettered access to that thing or I have no ability to be responsible.
I'm not saying I am correct. I think we need to run a microscope over this seemingly simple scenario though.
On 12 Oct 2010, at 15:41, Tim Turner wrote:
Surely it's just basic Data Protection. The use of personal data should be fair, lawful and according to a set of conditions. Is it fair for the organisation's head to have access to any and all personal data held by an organisation? How do they meet a condition in this context, especially a sensitive data condition. In an organisation handling health or social work records, for example, it would be neither fair nor lawful for the CE to access the patient / service user records because it could breach the duty of confidence, and it will almost certain exceed the fair processing notice. It will probably breach the third principle, because it's excessive for a senior manager to have access to information that could easily be anonymised.
In the context of Lee's original question, the CE who wants to ensure that policies are being applied equally does not need access to identifiable personal data in order to do that - the fact that they run the organisation does not exempt them from DP, and does not give them carte blanche to access information on the basis of their role, rather than what they need to do the job.
I would argue that if the CE of a supermarket has open access to the contents of their loyalty card scheme, or to the employment records of every check-out operative, that would also be unfair, excessive and breach of appropriate security under principle 7.
I could go on, but I think it's really a cultural thing. Either you think that the head honcho needs access because they're in charge, or you think that everyone should be treated the same, and get access to what they need to actually do the job. I agree with the latter, but many will be in sympathy with the former.
Tim Turner
NHS Manchester
________________________________
Tim Trent - Consultant
Tel: +44 (0)7710 126618
web: ComplianceAndPrivacy.com<http://complianceandprivacy.com> - where busy executives go to find the news first
personal blog: timtrent.blogspot.com/<http://timtrent.blogspot.com/> - news, views, and opinions
personal website: Tim's Personal Website<http://www.trent.karoo.net> - more than anyone needs to know
[cid:~WRD000.jpg]<http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MarketingByPermission/~6/1>
Important: This message is private and confidential. If you have received this message in error, please notify us and remove it from your system. This email and any attachment(s) are believed to be virus-free, but it is the responsibility of the recipient to make all the necessary virus checks. This email and any attachments to it are copyright of Meadowood Associates, owners of Compliance And Privacy, unless otherwise stated. Their copying, transmission, reproduction in whole or in part may only be undertaken with the express permission, in writing, of Meadowood Associates, at Meadowood House, 30 Redditch, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 0TT.
________________________________
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
Selected commands (the command has been filled in below in the body of the email if you are receiving emails in HTML format):
* Leaving this list: send leave data-protection to [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]&BODY=LEAVE%20data-protection>
* Suspending emails from all JISCMail lists: send SET * NOMAIL to [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]&BODY=SET%20*%20NOMAIL>
* To receive emails from this list in text format: send SET data-protection NOHTML to [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]&BODY=SET%20data-protection%20NOHTML>
* To receive emails from this list in HTML format: send SET data-protection HTML to [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]&BODY=SET%20data-protection%20HTML>
All user commands can be found at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/commandref.htm and are sent in the body of an otherwise blank email to [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Any queries about sending or receiving messages please send to the list owner [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
(Please send all commands to [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> not the list or the moderators, and all requests for technical help to [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>, the general office helpline)
________________________________
________________________________
Help protect our environment by only printing this email if absolutely necessary. The information it contains and any files transmitted with it are confidential and are only intended for the person or organisation to whom it is addressed. It may be unlawful for you to use, share or copy the information, if you are not authorised to do so. If you receive this email by mistake, please inform the person who sent it at the above address and then delete the email from your system. Durham County Council takes reasonable precautions to ensure that its emails are virus free. However, we do not accept responsibility for any losses incurred as a result of viruses we might transmit and recommend that you should use your own virus checking procedures.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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
Any queries about sending or receiving messages please send to the list owner
[log in to unmask]
Full help Desk - please email [log in to unmask] describing your needs
To receive these emails in HTML format send the command:
SET data-protection HTML to [log in to unmask]
(all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
