Of course it is always difficult to make comments without knowing the full
story and particularly the technical details but in answer to Antoinette
Carter's question I would have thought that the owner might legitimately be
concerned that stored numbers had been used and contact made by the thief
which might have compromised the owner in some way.
On the original point, I don't often agree with Gerald Kaufman who does have
a talent for theatrical exaggeration but my experience of the DPA is that it
must be one of the worst written pieces of legislation in recent years.
Frequently it is unclear what it will mean in any particular situation, it
often seems to inhibit organisations from taking reasonable actions and has
produced the particular absurdity of references which are confidential at
'one end' but not the 'other'. I would also suggest that the sheer volume of
messages on this mailing list (a record ?)is a testimony to how difficult it
is to work in practice.
Rant over.
Thanks
*************************************
Geoff Smith
Principal Officer
University Secretariat
Sheffield Hallam University
City Campus
Howard Street
Sheffield
S1 1WB
Tel: 0114 225 3854
Fax: 0114 225 3498
Email: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Antoinette Carter [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 16 June 2003 16:42
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [data-protection] DATA PROTECTION ACT "INSANE" - GIVE US PRIVACY
INSTEAD
Chris Pounders posting read:
He (Gerald Kaufman) cited the case of a constituent "who had his telephone
was stolen. When it was retrieved, and when he asked for the numbers which
had been used by the thief while the thief had possession of his telephone
he was told he could not be given that information because of the Data
Protection Act". He then said that this was evidence "of how stupid the Act
was".
My question would be to what legitimate purpose could the owner of this
telephone have put the information he was asking for? I think it was
entirely appropriate for him to not have those numbers disclosed to him. I'm
sure that information would have been made available to the police
investigating the theft of the phone. What does everyone else think?
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