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Archiver > SOG-UK > 2002-03 > 1015368995


From: Jeremy Wilkes <>
Subject: [SoG] Registers of electors
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 17:56:35 -0500


Today I discovered something that may interest Roy Stockdill, and even
others.

The Kent County Council no longer permits those visiting its public
libraries to inspect registers of electors. Apparently one may check that
one is in one, on production of evidence of identity, but that is all. I
am told that they have imposed a thirty-year closure.

Having been refused access, I did a search on www.192.com and found what I
wanted. Those who maintain that site make no secret of the source of their
information.

The reason given was the oft-quoted Data Protection Act. I eventually
managed to get what passes for my brain around the original one, but have
not made much headway with the more recent version. I seem to recall
though, that one of the data protection principles is that data should be
kept only for as long as it is required to serve the purpose for which it
was collected. Does this not mean (as the K.C.C. sees things) that the
registers should be destroyed before they reach the age of thirty years?

Jeremy Wilkes

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