Legislation in ICT

Data Protection Act (1998)• What is the Data Protection Act

(1998) and why was it created?

• What are the eight principles of the Data Protection Act?

• Data Protection Act: What rights do we have?

• What is an Information Commissioner, Data Controller and Data Subject?

• Are there any exemptions to the Data Protection Act?

Data Protection Act (1998)

What is it and why was it created?

The Data Protection Act was developed to give protection and lay down the rules about how personal data can be used.

It was created to protect individuals from misuse of this data. It governs the collection and processing of data by organisations and the individual rights to access the data if they wish.

Data Protection Act (1998)What is an Information Commissioner, Data

Controller and Data Subject?

Information Commissioner Person who has the power to enforce the Act.

Data Controller Person or Company that collects and keeps data about people.

Data SubjectPerson who has data about them stored outside their direct control.

Data Protection Act (1998)What are the eight principles of it?

1. Data must be kept secure;

2. Data stored must be relevant;

3. Data stored must be kept no longer than necessary;

4. Data stored must be kept accurate and up-to-date;

5. Data must be obtained and processed lawfully;

6. Data must be processed within the data subject rights;

7. Data must be obtained and specified for lawful purposes;

8. Data must not be transferred to countries without adequate data protection laws.

Data Protection Act (1998)What rights do we have as data

subjects?• To be supplied with the data held about us;

• To change incorrect data;

• To prevent data being used about us if it will cause distress;

• To stop data being used in attempts to sell us something;

• To use the law to gain compensation.

Data Protection Act (1998)Are there any exemptions to the Data Protection Act?

• Any data held for National Security reasons e.g. MI5

• The Police can access personal information in order to solve crimes.

• The taxman can access personal information to ensure people pay their tax!

• Any data held for domestic purposes at home e.g. birthday lists, address books.

Computer Misuse Act (1990)

• What is the Computer Misuse Act (1990) and why was it created?

• What are the three principles of the Computer Misuse Act?

Computer Misuse Act (1990)

What is it and why was it created?

The Computer Misuse Act (1990) was developed to cope with the problems of computer hackers and viruses.

Hacker: Unauthorised user who attempts to or gains access to an information system

Virus: A virus is a program written to cause mischief or damage to a computer system.

Computer Misuse Act (1990)

What are the three principles of the Act?

1. It is illegal to access unauthorised data e.g. Hacking.

2. It is illegal to access unauthorised data and intend to do it again e.g. Blackmail and fraud purposes.

3. It is illegal to access unauthorised data and amend it e.g. Planting Viruses and deleting files.

Copyright, Design and Patents Act (1988)

• Introduced to protect people who have created original pieces of work.

• Books, Music, Films, Games, Applications.

• 2 main purposes of the Act:

• To ensure people are rewarded for their endeavours.

• To give protection to the copyright holder if someone tries to steal their work.

Copyright, Design and Patents Act (1988)

• The Act protects a wide range of work… written and computer based.

• Includes:

• Copying Software;

• Copying or Downloading music;

• Copying images or photographs from the Web;

• Copying text from web pages.