"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...
In article , Mike
wrote:
"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...
In article , Mike
wrote:

The Data Protection Act is very 'wooly' and has more holes in it than
a
worn
out cardigan,

A nice analogy. And, unfortunately, all too true.

What surprised and amazed me was it depends 'how' use you it kept and
used
as to whether you a required to register. Even a list of telephone
numbers
with some details of those people listed on a piece of paper, 'could'
make
you be liable for registering. Stretching it I know but nevertheless :-(

Not stretching it at all, I am afraid. The first DPA made it illegal
for anyone to write a paper on a computer and include references without
registering. The first Registrar said publicly that he intended not to
enforce the Act in that respect.

If I could have found a way to herd cats, I would have tried to get
every academic and PhD or masters student in the country to apply for
registration, and then taken the Registrar to court on the grounds of
not responding in time. Not his fault, but it would have shown up the
Act for the fiasco it was.

The new one is subtly different. If you arrange a work party more than
a specified period ahead of time, and have a list of people going and what
food they have ordered, you must register. No computer need be involved.

I am surprised to hear this. I had thought that the bit about "computer
readable form" was part of the act.
This must be a moderately recent addition. If not, I was acting illegally
when I still worked for a living, when I told my staff that all the
information about students' coursework was to be kept on paper until we got
ourselves sttraightened with the DPR. ( I need hardly add that that was a
pure formality, just to keep my nose clean. Neither I nor my staff paid
any attention to my ukase.)

Franz