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Archiver > GENBRIT > 2000-11 > 0973080169


From: Roy Stockdill <>
Subject: A question of Copyright
Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2000 07:02:49 -0500


Paul Moynagh wrote.....

>>The DPA surely covers anyone still alive? So if you want to put such
prrsonal data on your computer at home - let alone publish it on the web,
you should definitely register under the Act. Once registered you are less
likely to infringe anyone's legal 'rights', though some relatives might
still be upset if they find their names and other details published to all
and sundry. <<

NOT so. Family historians are covered by one of the exemption categories in
the DPA which exempts data held for "recreational use". There is a self
assessment test that you can download from URL <www.dpr.gov.uk> which leads
one to arrive at this conclusion, and there is also a booklet obtainable
from the Federation of Family History Societies, written by a former
chairman who is a lawyer, that gives similar advice.

If you keep data on your computer (or indeed on paper, since the new DPA
covers this as well) on living people, as long as it is in connection with
your hobby you are exempt from registering. However, the "grey" area seems
to be if you publish the data to a third party or a wider audience, i.e. in
a journal or on the Internet. The powers-that-be do not seem to have
arrived at a view on this and I don't suppose they will until - if ever -
there is a test case on it. Personally, I object strongly to paying 75 quid
to the government as a tax on my hobby!

I reiterate what I have said numerous times on this topic: the Data
Protection Act was never intended to be concerned with family historians.
When first formulated it had the object of protecting private citizens from
the consequences of inaccurate data being kept on them on computer by
government departments, quasi-government agencies, local councils, large
companies and, particularly, debt-collecting and credit reference agencies
- an aim we would all agree with, I imagine. Unfortunately, such is the
nature of laws and bureaucracy that it has become a catch-all monster
gathering everything within its net.

Personally, I see no reason whatsoever why I shouldn't keep data on living
individuals, and publish it if I want to, provided it is obtained from
sources that are unequivocally in the public domain. There is far too much
prissiness and preciousness about so-called privacy. The free flow of
information is much more important to a democratic society.

Roy Stockdill
Editor, The Journal of One-Name Studies
The Stockdill Family History Society
Web page:- http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/roystock
Web page of the Guild of One-Name Studies:- http://www.one-name.org
”Never ask a man if he comes from Yorkshire. If he does he will tell you.
If he does not, why humiliate him?" - Canon Sydney Smith (scholar and
humorist 1771-1845)

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