14 January, 2004: That Data Protection Act again

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I shouldn't just link to things here (that's what BIMBO is for), but I was pleased to see this piece in the Guardian about the Information Commissioner's clarifications of the Data Protection Act. Cf. my previous comments about companies using the Act to make excuses:

Idiot-proof clarification of the Data Protection Act was unveiled today, in a bid to prevent the police and private companies using the act as a smokescreen for their own incompetence or errors.

-- splendid. The spin is slightly -- informatively -- different from The Times and the BBC, but the basic point remains:

Mr Thomas [the Commissioner] told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that British Gas had accepted the act did not prevent it from passing on information. He said he was ``completely surprised'' at the line taken by police in the Huntley case.

Copyright (c) 2004 Chris Lightfoot; available under a Creative Commons License.