Privacy or Security?

摘要

Privacy, data protection, spam, and security are all issues that currently are high on the U.K. and in-ternational agendas, with the daily news challenging the legislation even as it hits the books. In the past few months, two tragic events have shaken the U.K. public and raised the most fundamental questions concerning the rights of free citizens and their security. In December, a murder trial came to an end with the sentencing of Ian Hunt-ley for the deaths of two little girls in Soham, Cambridgeshire. After the verdict was given, it came to light that Huntley had been investigated in the past for several rape allegations in a different part of the country, but that records of the investigations had been deleted by the police. The chief constable later cited the 1998 Data Protection Act as justifying the action. (It should be noted that Huntley was not convicted as a result of any of those investigations.) When the school in Soham that employed him as a janitor requested a standard police check for his appointment, no prior criminal history was revealed nor the fact that he had changed his name (with tragic consequences).