By Tim Ferguson, 14 August 2007 11:23
NEWS
A shake-up of the way organisations share personal information could be on the way following the publication of a new set of guidelines by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
The ICO's framework code of practice for sharing personal information - both between and within organisations - has been made available for public consultation until 1 October this year.
The framework is designed to help organisations achieve good practice and comply with the Data Protection Act as more and more personal information is shared between organisations.
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The code addresses what the ICO says are the main data protection issues of information security, accuracy of information and retention periods.
The ICO is encouraging organisations to use the guidelines to make well-informed decisions about information sharing and even produce their own codes of practice.
Iain Bourne, head of data protection projects at the ICO, said organisations must share information responsibly or risk losing individuals' trust.
He added the code should reduce "uncertainty that can surround information sharing".
The framework is designed to be flexible to cater for the needs of different organisations, depending on the kind of information sharing they're involved with.
The ICO said organisations could adopt the framework entirely while others may wish to adjust it to fit with existing policies or use it to evaluate existing procedures.
Comments
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1. anonymous
The general public has little idea of what is going on at the moment. The government is essentially rushing ahead with its agenda to make our personal data a tradable commodity regardless of whether we like it or not.
Over the last 15 to 20 years the state has divested itself of ownership and responsibility over public assets by selling them to global companies and it is now attempting to make members of the public into an asset which in turn can be sold to these companies.
The arrangement currently being thrashed out by the interested parties is that government will tag the population with ID Cards and then sell the tagged population’s data to the highest bidding companies. The companies then take control over their new assets from there on.
A nice little earner for all concerned.