Where is data protection going?

This week, TFPL hosted the latest CiG seminar Data Protection - is it really possible or just a pipe-dream?  There were presentations from Jonathan Holbrook, the Head of Data Protection Practice Private Sector at the Information Commissioner's Office and Sunny Bath, the Data Protection Officer at Euromoney Institutional Investor (EII).   Martin Sanderson, from our Records Management Team, attended and reports below:

"When attending a Data Protection meeting in Europe in 2007 I was surprised to hear that the UK was reported as the weakest European member in implementing DP with Spain the strongest.  Perhaps Jonathan provided the answer to this position in explaining the lack of ICO’s enforcement powers or indeed the lack of interest by the press (for their own reasons) to push this as a key public issue.

However I was encouraged on hearing how seriously EII has taken Data Protection, and the level of effort and investment they have put into this over the years.  Their starting point was to carry out a thorough audit of the personal information they were holding across the organisation.  I wonder how many other organisations have even taken this first step in bringing their management of personal information under control. Recent events in the UK suggest there is a long way to go but until we witness a stronger enforcement regime in the UK I cannot see this happening".

See more about this event on Fenton Research blog 'But why do you need to know?'