phone lookups

[Roger Bisson]

> As it isn't legal for the government to sell you my traffic data, it
> can't therefore be ok for you to get it for free (or to buy it)
> There may of course be a DPA consideration here - as the data on that
> disk must constitute a searchable database of user-identifiable data,
> surely therefore (unless I am reading this wrong) it should require
> registration ?

DPA - as far as I understand, it is not the data itself that requires
registration, but the data controllers - the people or companies that hold,
and use the data. As part of the registration process you're supposed to
provide details of the purpose of your use of the data, and also to work
within the guidelines of the "data protection principles" and apply "good
data handling" procedures.

If you are processing any 'personal' data without either a current DPA
registration, or  being in a position to show that one of the exemptions
applies to you and the purpose of your use of the data, then technically I
would say you may be subject to prosecution under the DPA. In either case,
this obligation to implement "good data handling" procedures would,
presumably, preclude public publication without prior consent.

Also, posting personal data to a list such as this may also fall under the
DPA principle dealing with transfer of information across legal boundaries
(eg. between the UK and USA), particularly where, for example, postings are
indexed by systems such as Google, which itself doesn't give too much
consideration for data protection principles.

Roger