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Legal Terms - data protection
protections for personal data, or private information about people kept on computers and in "relevant manual filing systems." The Data Protection Act 1998, which went into effect in 2000, outlined the rights of data subjects, the obligations of data controllers, and the fundamentals of data protection in the UK. The 1998 Act replaced the registration system with a notification system, expanded the scope of protection beyond computer storage, and required
that data controllers should provide a more generic level of description rather to the prior, intricate coding system. The eight data protection principles outlined in the Act are:
1. Personal data must be collected fairly and legally, and the information it contains must be processed accordingly.
2. Personal information may only be retained for certain, authorized purposes and may not be utilized or disseminated in any way that conflicts with those objectives.
3. Any personal information kept for an objective must be pertinent to that goal and not excessive given the purpose or purposes for which it is utilized.
4. Personal information must be true and, if needed, kept current.
5. No personal information is to be retained for longer than is required for any given reason.
6. The processing of personal data must respect the rights of the data subjects.
7. Appropriate technological and organizational measures must be used to prevent the unlawful and unauthorized processing of personal data as well as accidental data loss, deletion, or damage.
8. Transferring personal data to a nation or territory is prohibited unless that nation or territory guarantees a sufficient degree of protection for the freedoms and rights of data subjects with regard to the processing of personal data.
Unless they are exempt, data controllers are required to notify the Information Commissioner of the data they process. The notification period is recurrent every year, and it is illegal for a controller to process data without notifying others of any changes made after the notice period.
When data controllers fail to fulfill their entire set of Act-mandated obligations, the Information Commissioner has the authority to request information from them and, in the end, to take enforcement action against them. The Information Tribunal (now a part of the General Regulatory Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal) is the forum for appeals of Commissioner judgments. In addition to non-notification, the 1998 Act included strict liability criminal offenses such as: acquiring, revealing (or causing the disclosure of), or selling (or advertising for sale) personal data without the data controller's consent;
gaining illegal access to data; requesting unlawful access to data from another person; and not answering information requests and/or enforcement notices.
Significant rights were granted to data persons by the 1998 Act. These rights include: the ability to ascertain what information is held about them; the ability to request a court order to correct, block, erase, and destroy personal details if they are erroneous, contain expressions of opinion, or are based on inaccurate data; the ability to stop processing when doing so would cause them or anyone else to suffer significant unjustified harm or distress; the ability to stop processing data for direct marketing; and the ability to receive compensation from a data controller for harm or distress caused by any Act violations.
A new Act implementing EU regulation 2016/699 (the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR) replaced the Data Protection Act of 1998 in May 2018. A more expansive definition of personal data and a stronger focus on accountability and governance concerns are the two primary modifications. Data controllers must keep internal records of their processing activities as proof of their compliance with the new Act.
protections for personal data, or private information about people kept on computers and in "relevant manual filing systems." The Data Protection Act 1998, which went into effect in 2000, outlined the rights of data subjects, the obligations of data controllers, and the fundamentals of data protection in the UK. The 1998 Act replaced the registration system with a notification system, expanded the scope of protection beyond computer storage, and required
that data controllers should provide a more generic level of description rather to the prior, intricate coding system. The eight data protection principles outlined in the Act are:
1. Personal data must be collected fairly and legally, and the information it contains must be processed accordingly.
2. Personal information may only be retained for certain, authorized purposes and may not be utilized or disseminated in any way that conflicts with those objectives.
3. Any personal information kept for an objective must be pertinent to that goal and not excessive given the purpose or purposes for which it is utilized.
4. Personal information must be true and, if needed, kept current.
5. No personal information is to be retained for longer than is required for any given reason.
6. The processing of personal data must respect the rights of the data subjects.
7. Appropriate technological and organizational measures must be used to prevent the unlawful and unauthorized processing of personal data as well as accidental data loss, deletion, or damage.
8. Transferring personal data to a nation or territory is prohibited unless that nation or territory guarantees a sufficient degree of protection for the freedoms and rights of data subjects with regard to the processing of personal data.
Unless they are exempt, data controllers are required to notify the Information Commissioner of the data they process. The notification period is recurrent every year, and it is illegal for a controller to process data without notifying others of any changes made after the notice period.
When data controllers fail to fulfill their entire set of Act-mandated obligations, the Information Commissioner has the authority to request information from them and, in the end, to take enforcement action against them. The Information Tribunal (now a part of the General Regulatory Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal) is the forum for appeals of Commissioner judgments. In addition to non-notification, the 1998 Act included strict liability criminal offenses such as: acquiring, revealing (or causing the disclosure of), or selling (or advertising for sale) personal data without the data controller's consent;
gaining illegal access to data; requesting unlawful access to data from another person; and not answering information requests and/or enforcement notices.
Significant rights were granted to data persons by the 1998 Act. These rights include: the ability to ascertain what information is held about them; the ability to request a court order to correct, block, erase, and destroy personal details if they are erroneous, contain expressions of opinion, or are based on inaccurate data; the ability to stop processing when doing so would cause them or anyone else to suffer significant unjustified harm or distress; the ability to stop processing data for direct marketing; and the ability to receive compensation from a data controller for harm or distress caused by any Act violations.
A new Act implementing EU regulation 2016/699 (the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR) replaced the Data Protection Act of 1998 in May 2018. A more expansive definition of personal data and a stronger focus on accountability and governance concerns are the two primary modifications. Data controllers must keep internal records of their processing activities as proof of their compliance with the new Act.
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