Roland Perry on 26 August 2007 at 12:24 said:-
> Getting back to first principles: what is the "personal data" in
> question? If it's simply "a means to identify a person, and therefore
> attribute their words/actions correctly", then while a video
> of someone
> is apparently enough to identify a person in that way, a
> written record
> "Mr Jones said/did X" could be even clearer.
We are in danger of confusing language(s) of various types with
communications here. Clarity and brevity of communications seems to be the
point. Attaining a common understanding is an objective, identifying the
communicators and the context(s) of the communication are important
elements. All of those things will form personal data of various types,
certainly during the communication. None of them in isolation would
necessarily contain the complete rounded picture, hence the natural
difficulties which can so often flow from generalisations and
prioritisation.
> I agree that there are some customer-facing people out there
> who appear
> reluctant to be called to account for their actions, and
> therefore hide
> behind various forms of anonymity (a common one being
> refusing to give a
> name, or wearing a badge with a plainly false name).
I do not believe I said that people were hiding because they were reluctant
to be accountable. Whilst that statement can be correct as a generalisation
for some people and in some circumstances, on its own it would form only a
very shallow understanding which does not account for all the other
potential reasons for those types of actions not the least of which could
be uncertainty. Take organisations who instruct staff to use such
techniques as part of their job for various reasons, individuals who manage
their workloads by acting in similar ways, people who cannot be truly
public in all the arenas of their life without being inundated with
communications to the extent that they are unable to function. Labelling
all people in the same way is clearly an ineffective method of thinking
about these issues whilst openly exploring the reasons for the actions in
those circumstances can be very counter-productive, as well as resulting in
misleading responses.
Ian W
> -----Original Message-----
> From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection
> issues [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> Roland Perry
> Sent: 26 August 2007 12:24
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: UTube video removed
>
>
> In message <[log in to unmask]>, at
> 11:20:52 on Sun, 26 Aug 2007, Ian Welton
> <[log in to unmask]> writes
> >> The picture of the face, perhaps. Maybe it could be
> blocked out like
> >>on all those "secret filming" TV documentaries, and
> presumably for
> >>exactly the same reason?
> >
> >That does not provide any fuller answer, as a written
> description of a
> >persons features, whilst potentially not as accurate, in
> many cases can
> >with time and effort provide just as good and in some areas a more
> >clearly and openly detailed description of a photograph as it is
> >interpreted by the writer or any reader.
>
> Getting back to first principles: what is the "personal data" in
> question? If it's simply "a means to identify a person, and therefore
> attribute their words/actions correctly", then while a video
> of someone
> is apparently enough to identify a person in that way, a
> written record
> "Mr Jones said/did X" could be even clearer.
>
> I agree that there are some customer-facing people out there
> who appear
> reluctant to be called to account for their actions, and
> therefore hide
> behind various forms of anonymity (a common one being
> refusing to give a
> name, or wearing a badge with a plainly false name).
>
> Maybe they think that filming them breaks that anonymity, and somehow
> invades their private space in a way that simply taking notes,
> attributable to "the 30 year old lady with short blonde hair, a
> Lancashire accent, glasses and a small tattoo on her left
> wrist, who was
> wearing a badge that said 'Jane'" doesn't. (Despite 'Jane'
> being just as
> traceable, if it really mattered).
> --
> Roland Perry
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