Data Protection Principles Research Articles

On biometrics‐based authentication and identification from a privacy‐protection perspective

Biometric techniques, such as fingerprint verification, iris or face recognition, retina analysis and hand‐written signature verification, are increasingly becoming basic elements of authentication and identification systems. However, any human physiological or behavioural traits serving as biometric characteristics are personal data protected by privacy protection legislation. To address related issues, this paper examines these classes of biometrics according to data protection principles, purpose, proportionality and security, provided in international legislation. This analysis leads to the desired properties of biometric systems in the form of functional and non‐functional requirements, in order to support developers minimising the risk of being non‐compliant to privacy protection legislation, and to increase user acceptance.

Protecting Personal Data in Camera Surveillance Practices

This paper explores in which ways privacy (in particular, data protection principles) comes to the fore in the day-to-day operation of a public video surveillance system. Starting from current European legal perspectives on data protection, and building on an empirical case study, the meanings and management of privacy in the practice of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) will be discussed in order to identify the ways in which data protection is addressed in the operation of a video surveillance system. The case study suggests that views expressed by actors involved in the use of CCTV and the organisational and technical measures that have been employed, are related to a number of data protection issues, in particular principles regarding data quality. In addition, the case shows that while regulations (consisting in particular of organisational procedures) pertaining to the permissibility of data processing can be discerned in the practice of centralised CCTV, few indications exist that mechanisms taking into account data subjects' rights were established. Therefore, the system of video surveillance discussed in this paper suggests that different elements of data protection feature in different ways in the context of CCTV. This finding gives clues as to future research on privacy and camera surveillance.

Data protection issues for intranets and Web sites

Individuals have become increasingly concerned about data protection issues in recent years and due largely to the Internet, where there have been concerns about the level of unsolicited commercial Email ("spam") received and the amount of personal data about themselves which has been processed via the Web without their knowledge. The Internet and electronic commerce has created potential threats to consumers' privacy on an unprecedented scale. The principles of good information handling that are aimed at protecting against such abuses appear in Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 1998, where the eight data protection principles are that data must be: processed fairly and lawfully; for limited purposes (notified to the Commissioner and the data subject); adequate, relevant and not excessive; accurate; not kept for longer than is necessary; processed in line with the data subject's rights; kept secure; and not transferred to countries without adequate protection. In addition, the Office of the Information Commissioner has produced some guidance relating to the protection of privacy on the Internet specifies that, in using the Internet for their business dealings, data controllers must take into account the privacy rights of individuals and their own responsibilities under privacy and data protection legislation. This was followed in June 2001 by some compliance advice concerning Web sites where to be fair, Web site operators must ensure that individuals are aware of: the identity of the person or organization responsible for operating the Web site; the purposes for which the data are to be processed; and any other information that is needed in order to ensure the fairness of the processing of the data. Pays particular attention to such issues as: data protection and privacy statements; direct marketing applications; cookies; Web bugs; junk Email and spam; and data security.

Developing a Data Protection Policy for an Information Service

A brief, but very informative, summary of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) is contained in Legal Information Management in the Summer 2001 issue. This article doesn't attempt to replicate that summary but will examine some of the key decisions that need to be made in developing a policy that will enable the University of Birmingham to conform to the Act, its eight data protection principles, and the University's Data Protection policy when processing personal data and the practical procedures needed to deal with personal data processing in an information service.

The Data Protection Act 1998 and the occupational physician.

The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) [1] became law on 24 October 1998. It is based around eight ‘Principles of Data Protection’ (Table 1) and its provisions apply to manually processed data such as health records. For living individuals, it replaces the Access to Health Records Act 1990 [2]. However, the majority of the Access to Medical Reports Act 1988 [3] remains in force. It is not the purpose of this article to examine in detail the far-reaching implications of the DPA for health professionals in general, as these have been dealt with in documents such as those from the medical defence societies and from the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner [4], or for occupational health departments (there have been two popular explanations of this which are readily available [5,6]), but rather to look at two particular implications for occupational physicians. There are several transitional arrangements relating to various categories of data; for manual filing systems (such as the majority of occupational health record systems), the DPA applies fully from 23 October 2001. As with any legislation whose application may vary widely with individual cases, many of the provisions of the DPA, whose broad principles reach deep into the heart of the keeping of medical records, will need to be clarified by case law. Occupational health records frequently contain different types of material, as well as records relating to the care of an individual (for example, reports to and from management, work attendance data, etc.—all these data are essential to the effective management of an individual case). This is all ‘sensitive personal data’ held in a ‘relevant filing system’ and, hence, all subject to the provisions of the DPA. This means that individuals to whom the records relate will have to give explicit consent to their processing. It is unclear from the DPA whether this consent will have to be written; however, the draft Code of Practice [4] states that compliance with the ethical guidelines of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine [7] will suffice in most cases. Individuals will also have the right of access to the material, unless certain limited exemptions within the DPA apply. This raises the interesting question of whether an organization’s management might have the right of veto over the release of management reports addressed to an occupational health professional, relating to an individual. To constitute a ‘health record’ for the purposes of the DPA, a record must have been made by or on behalf of a health professional. It would therefore be difficult to consider a letter or report made by an employer who is neither a health professional nor acting on behalf of a health professional to constitute a ‘health record’, even though the letter or report could be filed within an individual’s occupational health file. Thus,

Between a rock and a hard place: The Data Protection Act of 1998 and U.K. fundraising practice

AbstractIn providing an overview of data protection and privacy principles and a description of how these have developed over the past five to ten years, the author also illustrates how direct marketing strategy must evolve to take account of these issues in the future.

Part 16: Data protection acts

As a result of our membership of the European Community, this country has had to accept stringent regulations relating to the control of and access to automated data from which persons can be identified. The Data Protection Act 1984 applied only to information held in automated form but set down basic principles of data protection. Tougher European rules (European Directive 95/46/EC) have led to the passing of the Data Protection Act 1998 which is being brought in over the next few years. The Data Protection Act 1998 applies not only to information held in automated form but also to personal information held in a file. The new provisions are designed to ensure greater harmony across the EC when data is transferred across member states.

Case commentary: anonymisation is not exoneration.

This case commentary analyses a ruling that any use of information given in confidence for unconsented purposes is a breach of confidence capable of supporting a legal action (even if the information has previously been anonymised and aggregated). The ruling is being appealed. It is argued that, while it is reasonable to delineate a narrower duty of confidentiality (not to disclose personal information, against breach of which anonymisation protects), this must be within a broad duty of confidence (not to use private information, which using anonymous information can still breach). Thus, the ruling is fundamentally correct in holding that anonymisation does not permit information obtained in confidence to be used for unconsented purposes. This, however, implies that information obtained for a patient's treatment may not be used lawfully for medical research or NHS management purposes without consent, even if it is anonymised. Such a consequence is unacceptable as a matter of public policy. However, it is equally unacceptable to seek an exemption through the idea that patients give "implied consent" for medical research and NHS management purposes. It is also unacceptable to maintain that the public interest in medical research (regardless of its aims) justifies unconsented use of information obtained in confidence, even if the information is anonymised. The way in which Section 33 of the Data Protection Act 1998 creates an exemption to its Second Data Protection Principle provides a ready-made model for a public interest based exemption for medical research and statistical NHS purposes.

The Transfer of Personal Data to Third Countries Under EU Directive 95/46/EC

The 1981 Council of Europe Convention 108 and EU Directive 95/46/ EC assert that data protection is privacy protection. Consequently, countries with data protection rules control trans-border data flows to protect the rights of their citizens. Under the Directive, but subject to some derogations, personal data may only be transferred to third countries with adequate protection. 'Adequacy' is to be assessed in the light of all the circumstances. Alternative safeguards can be provided by means such as contractual arrangements. The Data Protection Commissioners have tried to define 'adequacy' as the usual data protection principles plus an assurance of compliance. This can be delivered by self-regulation as well as formal law. The Directive has not made a radical break with the past. The usual principles are those found in Convention 108 and in the 1980 OECD Guidelines. Those instruments also dealt with the control of trans-border data flows because of fears of restrictions on the free flow of information. The flexibility of the effective current UK law, which permits flows whilst preventing those which would lead to a breach of data protection, would have prevented the acrimony of the current debate with third countries. National laws on transborder data flows long pre-date the Directive and data protection authorities can be expected to continue to promote pragmatic methods of protecting exported data such as the use of model contracts either as a basis for derogation from 'adequacy' or as part of a package to satisfy the adequacy test. Work is taking place to build bridges between those with formal law and others relying on self-regulation. In Ottawa last October OECD ministers reaffirmed the 1980 Guidelines and if practical privacy protection can be secured globally, transborder data-flow control is of much less concern.

Businesses fail to comply with data protection principles

Businesses fail to comply with data protection principles

La directive européenne relative à la protection des données : fondements, histoire, points forts

The European Directive on Data Protection : Foundations, History, Strong Points Following on from a variety of national and international (OECD and Council of Europe) initiatives and pushed on by the consequences of achieving the internal market, the European Community has adopted principles of data protection. While some fear a purely market approach to the question, the European directive is clearly inscribed within a framework of protecting human rights and freedoms. The objective of ensuring a high level of protection has survived the different compromises, which were necessarily agreed in drafting and adopting the text.

Protecting Medical and Genetic Data

AbstractData protection was introduced in Western Europe in the early 1970s and now also extends to Central and East European countries. It is a remarkable example of the response given by Human Rights law to the challenges of modern society. The applications of science and technology in the fields of informatics and biomedicine have produced results unforeseen by any legislator. Regulation has been developed under the leadership of the Council of Europe. It aims at laying down basic principles of data protection but without blocking the future. The author presents a historical survey of the Council of Europe's two main treaties relevant to protection of medical and genetic data, those of 1981 (data protection) and 1997 (bioethics) and of several other texts. He concludes that the European Human Rights Convention should be reinforced with specific provisions on 'medical human rights' and on data protection. He also comes out in favour of separate treatment of traditional medical files and genetic data.

Data security and patient confidentiality: the manager's role

The maintenance of patient confidentiality is of utmost importance in the doctor patient relationship. With the advent of networks such as the National Health Service Wide Area Network in the UK, the potential to transmit identifiable clinical data will become greater. Links between general practitioners (GPs) and hospitals will allow the rapid transmission of data which if intercepted could be potentially embarrassing to the patient concerned. In 1994 the British Medical Association launched a draft bill on privacy and confidentiality and in association with this bill it is pushing for encryption of all clinical data across electronic networks. The manager's role within an acute hospital, community units and general practice, is to ensure that all employees are aware of the principles of data protection, security of hospital computer systems and that no obvious breaches of security can occur at publicly accessible terminals. Managers must be kept up to date with the latest developments in computer security such as digital signatures and be prepared to instigate these developments where practically possible. Managers must also take responsibility for the monitoring of access to terminals and be prepared to deal severely with staff who breach the code of confidentiality. Each manager must be kept informed of employees status with regard to their ‘need to know’ clearance level and also to promote confidentiality of patient details throughout the hospital. All of the management team must be prepared to train new staff in the principles of data security as they join the organisation and recognise their accountability if the programme fails. Data security and patient confidentiality is a broad responsibility in any healthcare organisation, with the Chief Executive accountable. In family practice, the partners are responsible and accountable. The British Medical Association believes as a matter of policy, that allowing access to personal health data without the patients consent, except in a legally allowable situation, should be a statutory offence.

Data protection and epidemiologic research

The collection, aggregation and use of personal information are of increasing concern and importance to modern society. Yet data protection laws, designed to regulate trade in personal data, can pose important burdens on epidemiologic and social research. After a brief overview of epidemiology, the paper offers an analysis of surveillance and data protection, highlighting the concept of the ‘data image’, and the role of data protection in ensuring human rights in surveillance societies. The paper then delineates the potential conflict or tension between the goals of data protection and epidemiology. The paper concludes by observing that while the European Union recently has exempted public health datasets from strict conformity with the principles of data protection, there is considerable need to define ethical and technical standards for the management, use and disposition of personal health data used in research settings. As data protection standards are about to be introduced into Europe, a unique oportunity exists for epidemiologists and other social researchers to consult broadly to define standards for the management of personal data.

DATA PROTECTION: THE FIRST DECADE

This paper considers the effectiveness of the Data Protection Act since its launch in 1984. The National Audit Office prepared a report in 1993, which was critical of the Data Protection Registrar, its implementation of the registration and the eight data protection principles of good practice. These criticisms are discussed here with a view to improving the Registrar's approach to data protection law, and its attitude to those who are required to register under the Data Protection Act.

Data protection law

The UK is in the process of introducing data protection legislation to comply with the Council of Europe convention. The paper outlines the basic data protection principles and described the extent of the proposed Act. Complying with data protection legislation requires a considerable investment, in terms of money and time. The cost implications of data protection legislation and the redesign of business systems, databases, etc., are highlighted.

Data protection and law reform

Data protection is an important example of adaption of laws to changes in modern society caused by technological development. In the Common Law countries, and particularly Australia, law reform has emerged as the most acceptable approach. It is a concerted effort on the part of the federal and states' law-makers to design new laws, where existing law fails to produce satisfactory answers and where waiting for possible judical decisions would leave the citizens too much in a state of uncertainty. Participation of countries now adopting data protection, or privacy protection laws in the work of international organisations is essential to ensure the necessary harmonisation and free flow of information. There is a general consensus between the countries as to the basic data protection principles, but diversity as to the way in which there are to be implemented. In Europe, the tendency is in favour of powerful supervisory agencies, in the US emphasis is on enforcement in the courts; Canada has established an ombudsman-type officer.