Data Protection (General)

by slowhands , proud of his ancient Dean Forest roots, Monday, November 05, 2007, 08:12 (6230 days ago) @ monfamilies

The National Archives does a good job of explaining the principles involved.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/legal/dataprotection.htm

We all need to act responsibly and respect peoples privacy - the general rule is that 100 years is regarded as a "living " persons period of privacy(!)

The DP Act differentiates between "personal" records and those kept by an organisation. Family History societies come into the grey area, but can take steps to comply. I suspect that should be seen as simply respecting privacy rather than Big Brother bearing down :-)

The Society of Genealogists also provides advice at
http://www.sog.org.uk/leaflets/dpa2.pdf