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Archiver > LONDON > 2005-02 > 1108131556


From: "Chris Goddard" <>
Subject: Re: [Lon] Freedom of Information Act
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 14:19:26 -0000
References: <1jJb+XAf$JDCFwe+@varneys.demon.co.uk>


Eve wrote:

> it might NEVER have been released and the 100 years is a concession.

And still might not be; at least, not in 1912. Centenarians are less of a
rarity these days, and the Data Protection Act might be used to protect
their privacy.

On the other hand, a lucrative partnership with Ancestry might be more
attractive and outweigh the risk of a centenarian bringing a case against
the UK government.

I do think we tend to forget that UK censuses are only ever carried out to
provide the UK government with statistics to assist with forward planning.
They're not intended to be snapshots of exactly who lived where and with
whom. And I don't think they ever have been, which is why we have difficulty
sometimes tracking people down in them.

The 2003 mid-year estimates, derived from the 2001 census, for example, are
used to determine how much my local library service pays for access to
Ancestry Library Edition this year. The fact that young men in the city
chose not to be counted in 2001 actually helps to keep the cost of the
subscription down. But family historians one hundred years or more hence
will be castigating the ONS for not adopting a more inclusive strategy in
2001.


Chris




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