The following terms apply to the UK Data Protection Act.

Data controller

A person or organisation that stores data to be processed by a Data User.

Data subject

A person or organisation about which data is held.

Data user

A person or organisation that processes data (held by a Data controller) about a Data subject. Usually, but not always, the same entity as the Data controller.

Data

Any information, stored for any purpose. This used only to apply to electronic information, thus leaving a huge gaping hole in the law, but the 1998 update to the Data Protection Act amended this.

Personal data

Any data that can be identified to any one person. A list of phone numbers is not in itself personal, but a list of phone numbers indexed to a list of names is.

Sensitive Data

Sensitive Data is defined as Personal data that pertains to at least one of the following:

The laws provide much stronger protection for sensitive data, compared to personal data.

Back to Computers, the Law and You

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.