Art, media, opinion and ideas
Sometime contributor to tuppenceworth, Daragh O'Brien, has started his own blog. He opens up his shutters with a discussion of the inaccuracies in the Electoral Roll with the benefit of his professional expertise in Data Quality Management. More of the same will be a welcome addition to the world.
The front page of the Motoring supplement of today's Irish Times has an article on speed cameras. At the end it casually mentions that Gardaí expect that the cameras will record 11 million plates a month. Now, I know we've got road problems, but I don't think that limits the recording of cars to just those actually speeding.
Thus the Digested Annual Report draws to a close. All that remains is for me to point you in the direction of the RTE news report of the Data Protection Commissioner's comments at the launch of same. And, finally here's the link to the pdf of the report from the DPC website.
The Annual Report's central section is a series of case studies. This format is a godsend to the annual report compiler who knows he can't put out a 15 page report. Most of them have been anonymised.
The Commissioner runs through in some detail the story of the first successful prosecution under the EU Regulations contained in Statutory Instrument 535/2003. Two key points:It is important to note that although I had evidence that the campaign involved the contacting of 165,000 subscribers, I can only prosecute in those cases where there is no consent from the recipient to receiving such calls.
In the course of 2005, 3 comprehensive audits were carried out. Those audited in 2005 were: The Irish Credit Bureau, Tesco Ireland Ltd and Lucan District Credit Union Ltd. Minnow, Blue Whale, Minnow.
What an innoculous looking headline. I can assure you that it was wrangled over by the author for quite some time. Garda matters During the year, the issue of subject access to personal data held by An Garda Síochána arose.
Most cold calling complaints made to this office relate to the operation of telecommunication service providers, with two companies (Optic Communications and NewTel Communications) standing out.
As an excuse for this extended selection from the newly published Annual Report 2005 from the Data Protection Commissioner, I offer this threadbare explanation; For some years it was one of my duties to collate, collect and write the Annual Report for a State body. Since then, I think I can say I have been more closely attuned to the nuances of Annual Report writing than the average person.
Many of the issues raised by Digital Rights Ireland tend to be met with blank faces due to a lack of technical knowledge by those affected. And yet when you try to put things into everyday language, people tell you you're being alarmist. Well here's an absolutely true story about surveillance by mobile phones.
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