Data Protection Act (1998)

The Data Protection Act is a UK law which controls how your personal information is used by organisations, businesses or the government. This means that everyone responsible for using data has to follow strict rules called ‘data protection principles’.

Some of the rules they must follow are:

• Used fairly and lawfully 
• Used for limited, specifically stated purposes
• Kept safe and secure
• Handled according to people’s data protection rights

There is strong legal protection for more sensitive information, such as:

• Ethnic background
• Political opinions
• Criminal records

The reason why the Data Protection Act was passed by parliament in 1998 was to give legal rights to people who have information stored about them.
Other European Union countries have passed similar laws as often information is held in more than one country.


Bibliography

Bbc.co.uk. (2016). BBC - GCSE Bitesize: The need for the Data Protection Act. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/ict/legal/0dataprotectionactrev1.shtml [Accessed 3 Oct. 2016]

Gov.uk. (2016). Data protection - GOV.UK. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/data-protection/the-data-protection-act [Accessed 3 Oct. 2016] 

Magikos.co.uk. (2016). Image [online] Available at: http://magikos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/DPA-1998.png [Accessed 3 Oct. 2016]

Wikipedia. (2016). Data Protection Act 1998. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Protection_Act_1998 [Accessed 3 Oct. 2016]