Applications of ICT - Data Protection Act 1998

Any organisation that keeps and processes personal data has to be registered under the Data Protection Act 1998, and to keep its regulations, which mainly require that the data about individuals must be:

• Kept Secure

• Accurate

• Kept up to date

• Adequate, relevant and non-excessive for the purpose

• Only used for the purposes for which it was supplied

• Retained only for as long as needed by the purposes for which it was obtained.

There are certain rights that individuals have as a result of these provisions, for example being able to deny the use of data given for direct marketing purposes.

This is one reason why application forms give the applicant the option to specify that they wish that their data would not be used for marketing purposes.

Many surveys about eBusiness have shown that one of the main barriers for consumers has been worry about issues like fraud, identity theft, spamming, ‘phishing’ and so on.

As a Business Studies student, remember that businesses must comply with the law and need to treat their customers, employees, suppliers etc with respect - this is good business practice, as well.

Good data management and security are therefore absolutely essential.