DID YOU KNOW that the EC Data Protection
Directive (95/46/EC) was agreed at the end of 1995 with hardly
any media comment? And since it is has been applicable (the UK
government adopted the new rules late in March 2000) it may have
far reaching consequences for businesses?
Background When bureaucrats devise regulations, it becomes a licence
for them to take liberties. When weak governments appease them,
who is left to stand up for the interests of business?
News of this Directive broke in February
1995. An enquirer tried to obtain a guide to these proposals,
but was told that they were unavailable in Britain and that they
had to write to Luxembourg. The Government Data Protection Office
apparently welcomed this Directive as it “brings Europe closer
together”. That’s fine for the politicians. But what
does it mean for British business?
Paperwork. Hassle. Cost Previously British legislation only applied to institutional
computer systems holding data on living individuals.
However, as paper filing systems will now
gradually be covered, a businessman will most likely have to register
his address book or filofax! CCTV security systems, mobile phones
and even answering machines will fall into the new categories
for “sound and image data”. In time, organisations will
have to register them all, and the estimated administrative cost
for British business will be over £900 million. The USA
manages to do without such luxuries!
Whereas organisations can currently get
by with a limited range of registrations against their computer
systems, the Directive would multiply the effort and cost in registering
('Notification’ to quote the Euro-speak).
This is because the role of “controller”
responsible for data would have to be much devolved. This will
be because “controllers” are liable for compensation
to anyone who feels “damaged” by any breach of official
procedure! As “controllers” are to be held guilty until
proven innocent, - a perversion of our traditional rights - they
would inevitably seek to cover their backs by minimising the field
of their responsibility. The scope for American-style litigation
is also magnified!
If you are a commercial organisation, you
only get off lightly if you are a creative artist or the press
- presumably as the EC will need your support in spreading its
propaganda in print or a TV soap?
Watching British Business It could become illegal to innocently record someone as a
“Russian trade minister” or “German leader”
under proscriptions on holding ethnic or political data. These
will tend to apply unless “appropriate guarantees” are
provided, such as getting the German Chancellor’s explicit
permission to key in his name! Supervisory authorities are to
be set up in each member state with “complete independence”
(signifying a lack of accountability). They may freely demand
or swap information’!
While Britain remains in the EC, we
inch further down the road to a police state!
