The Data Protection Act, 1998

This essay hasn't yet been marked by one of our teachers

You can view 1 essay on Legislation & The Legal Framework that have been Marked by Teachers

The first 200 words of this essay...

The Data Protection Act, 1998

The 'right to privacy' is a right we all expect. We do not expect personal details such as our age, medical records, personal family details and, political and religious beliefs to be freely available to everybody. With the growth of information and communication technology, large databases are able to hold huge quantities of information and global networks are able to share and distribute this information around the world in seconds. To protect people and their personal information, the Data Protection Act was formed. The first Act was made law in 1984 but was replaced by a new Act in 1998 to include the European Union law.

If any person, organisation, company or business wishes to hold personal information about people, they must register with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner.

The Data Protection Act contains eight basic principles. A summary of these:

1. be processed fairly and lawfuuly

2. be obtained for specified and lawful purposes

3. be adequate, relevant and not excessive for the purpose

4. be accurate and up-to-date

5. not be kept longer than necessary

6. be processed within the rights of