Far too many businesses and organisations are failing to give serious attention to the way that personal information about customers and staff is handled, a new report has said. Speaking at the launch of his annual report, Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, described the number of breaches of the rules governing the storing and managing of personal data as “horrifying”. He said: “Over the last year we have seen far too many careless and inexcusable breaches of people’s personal information.” He cited laptops that hold details of customer accounts and are used away from the office without strong encryption, and online job applicants who are able to see other candidates’ forms, as examples of the kind of breaches that are commonplace among firms and organisations. In the past year, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) received almost 24,000 enquiries and complaints concerning personal information. The public’s awareness of their data protection rights has risen to an all-time high of 82 per cent, and increasing numbers of people understand that firms have a legal responsibility to handle personal information in an appropriate way. Mr Thomas added: “Business and public sector leaders must take their data protection obligations more seriously. The majority of organisations process personal information appropriately – but privacy must be given more priority. Organisations that fail to process personal information in line with the Principles of the Data Protection Act not only risk enforcement action by the ICO, they also risk losing the trust of their customers.” The ICO has proposed that it be given stronger audit and inspection powers. At the moment, the ICO can only inspect information handling practices with the consent of the business or organisation. However, the Commissioner wants the right to examine methods and processes where poor practice is suspected. Date:11 July 2007
Content by: Made Simple Group
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