Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!spool.mu.edu!uunet!mcsun!corton!gna!axis-design!john From: john@gna.axis-design.fr (John Hughes) Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk Subject: Re: Database Registration and privacy acts Message-ID: Date: 16 May 91 22:17:02 GMT Article-I.D.: gna.JOHN.91May16231702 References: <1991May14.040427.10453@looking.on.ca> Sender: john@gna.axis-design.fr (John Hughes) Organization: A misspelling of Organisation Lines: 32 In-Reply-To: brad@looking.on.ca's message of 14 May 91 04: 04:27 GMT In article <1991May14.040427.10453@looking.on.ca> brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton) writes: There have been a number of interesting points raised recently in news.admin and comp.risks that EFF hangers-on might want to look at. They involve some British laws about databases. In one case a site has queried the database registry office about what databases must be registered. (Apparently the law requires that if you keep a collection of information about people on a computer, you have to register it, and other laws allow people to look at the data) They kept asking if X should be registered and always got yes. Examples of X: The uucp maps and alias databases for sites and users Hostname databases for the internet And speculation was that you would also have to register The /etc/passwd file and equivalents All E-mail mailing lists and more. Thus creating a typical net site might involve the registration (presumably with fees and paperwork) of a significant number of databases. Yup, you (and that means ANY OF YOU, no exceptions for size) MUST register any database that contains "personal information" about living people. Of course we al know that the law is an ass, so real people (as opposed to companies, organisations, etc) just ignore it. However, the law has no exceptions for real people, so just 'cos you DO ignore it doesn't mean you CAN, or SHOULD. John Hughes