UK IT Related Laws Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

UK IT Related Laws - Essay Example Illegally obtained data, records or information about an individual are often used in crimes that involve identity theft. Other usage of data about a person includes blackmail, kidnapping and other crimes. Data Protection Act of 1998 The Data Protection Act of 1998 was in response to the European Directive of 1995 that required member states to protect the right to privacy of every citizen in the European Union. Recognizing the borderless nature of internet transactions, the need for this law to be passed in every state is of outmost importance to ensure that no European will be victimized within the European Union by fellow Europeans engaged in criminal activities. The Data Protection Act was very explicit in limiting the information to be gathered by organizations from an individual to ensure that only what is needed by the organization can be gathered. The Data Protection Act also mandates that the information gathered from an individual or generated for an individual by an establ ishment should not be kept longer than necessary. The provision cited herein has the intention of ensuring that no data or information can be obtained that can be used in stealing and replicating an identity. However, there are instances where problems still occur. In September 2010, Brighton General Hospital was robbed of Hard Drives that contained confidential information of patients of the said hospital. Although, the Chief Executive of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trusts stated that the Hard Drives have been released to a contractor who was paid to destroy the Hard Drives, unfortunately the contractor sold them on E-Bay. As soon as they have been informed of the theft, they were able to catch and recover the hard drives with the help of the local police. The Information Commissioner’s Office stated that the watchdog suggested that the fine of the hospital be 375,000 pounds. The 375,000 pound fine is the biggest fine that the Information Commissionerâ€℠¢s Office has issued. (OUT-LAW.com, 2012) Kent County Council has been named as the number one organization that loses private data of their clients in the United Kingdom. There had been 72 reports of theft between the years 2008 and 2011. One incident was mentioned in the article where a worker lost a USB drive that contained information regarding students somewhere. Most of the Kent County Council’s loss of data incidents includes the loss of laptops, documents that were misplaced or accidentally left outside a car. Another incident mentioned were parents receiving a report of a different child. Although the Kent County Council was not held liable for some incidents which is illustrated in an incident where one family posted case notes pictures on Facebook, making it accessible to anyone. However, it is no big surprise that they came out as Number One with respect to data loss since they are a big authority in the United Kingdom. (BBC, 2011) Zurich Insurance was issued a fi ne of 2,300,000 million pounds by the Financial Service Authority for the data loss incident in August 2008 involving 46,000 of its customers. The data loss occurred when they were transferring data to storage