I spotted an advertisement on the tube today for my credit rating information. In other words, I can apply to this firm, Experian, who holds a huge amount of credit information on me, and ask them what personal data do they hold. Now I have never given this firm any permission for it to hold my data but they still have it. Banks ring this firm up when i ask for a loan or take out a credit card, and check out Dr. Bhaskar Dasgupta's credit. Thankfully I am not a suspicious chap but even if I was paranoid about my data being held in an electronic database without my concern, under the law, i cannot do anything about it.
The British Information Commissioner, arguably one of the most advanced and progressive information regulators in the world, has just released guidelines on how to treat public information, the data protection requirements and the challenges thereof. It is mainly related to organisations who hold data to be more open and transparent about the data that they hold on individuals, and try to educate them on what data, why that data, what is it used for, what are the downsides, etc. Quite interesting reading indeed. But at end of the day, there is no way I can disappear from electronic databases, no law, no option, no nothing. So I have decided that besides taking common sense precautions against identity theft, I will actually try to be open and use this openness to make more friends and influence people. That is why this blog and my facebook account have quite a lot of personal information which I am happy to share!
Quite an interesting intellectual exercise nonetheless, to think about who owns data about you.
All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!
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