Data Protection — Issues and implications for records managers in the UK
| Date | 01 January 1996 |
| Published date | 01 January 1996 |
| Pages | 33-40 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb027084 |
| Author | ANGELA JONES‐EVANS |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Data Protection - Issues and
implications for records
managers in the UK
ANGELA JONES-EVANS
ABSTRACT
This paper gives an overview of the 1984 Data Protection Act and the implica-
tions for records managers who store information about people on a computer.
The terminology of
the
Act and its eight principles are described, and criteria are
given for deciding whether or not an organisation should register with the Data
Protection Registrar.
Introduction
The mission of the Data Protection Registrar is to 'promote respect for
the private lives of individuals and in particular for the privacy of their
information' (Office of the Data Protection Registrar, 1994). Protecting
personal data may be seen to be associated with good professional prac-
tice in all fields (Lyons et al, 1986). The Data Protection Act (1984) places
a legal control on the practice of handling personal information, much as
the Health and Safety at Work Act did for other work practices. The Act
aims to afford some measure of protection to individuals and, as such, is
of importance to records managers who, by the nature of their work, may
store and manipulate large amounts of personal data. It is important to
note,
however, that the Act deals solely with personal information held
on computer, and has very little control over manually held records.
To gain insight into the Act it is necessary to appreciate the context in
which it appeared. In recent years, there has been a growing popular feel-
ing that information about people stored and processed on computer could
be misused. Indeed, it is fair to say that it is possible that an individual
could be harmed quite easily by the existence of inaccurate or misleading
Records Management Journal, vol. 6, no.
1,
April 1996, pp. 33-40
To continue reading
Request your trial