Data Protection Act

The Data Protection Act first became law in the United Kingdom in 1984, and in 1998, the Act was updated to add provisions that addressed the changing privacy needs in a technologically based world. The Act remains a constant source of debate in the UK, with some British citizens charging that the act does not go far enough to protect private information on the internet. The UK government is currently considering issuing identity cards for their citizens, as many other European nations already do, but the question of identity cards has put the Data Protection Act under renewed scrutiny. According to some British citizens, identity cards would be in direct violation of the Data Protection Act.

What Does The Data Protection Act Mean To Me?
The Data Protection Act was written as a way of guaranteeing to people that the private information they have to divulge, whether voluntarily to companies or the mandatory information that have to give to the government, cannot be mishandled, sold, or used against them . That means that if you apply for a credit card, a bank account, a store card, a gym membership, or some other service, the information you use has to be protected by that company under the guidelines of the Data Protection Act. The UK government must also follow the rules of the Data Protection Act regarding the information they hold about private citizens. The rules of the Act dictate exactly who can receive the private information, and how long it can be held on record before it must be destroyed. The Data Protection Act has been the bane of many organizations who feel the Act is unnecessarily heavy handed and that it interferes with the way that they do business. Many UK citizens take the opposite view and want to see the power of the Act extended even further.

More Information About The British Data Protection Act
To understand the British Data Protection Act, pay a visit to the UK’s Home Office website, where you can download and print helpful documents like The Easy Guide to the Data Protection Act and The Data Protection Act 1998 Summary. Another good place to learn about the Data Protection Act is message boards of groups who are involved in fighting for and against the Data Protection Act, such as message boards affiliated with the different UK political parties or the message boards of citizen lobbying groups.