by RoyalBlue »
12 Feb 2011 11:50
Svlad Cjelli Jerry St Clair prostak Is the stadium subject to FoI rulings? Could all spectators request a copy of the footage the stewards have taken of them? Obviously this would mean attacking the club, but they'd probably hesitate before blanket filming everyone again.
You could try a subject access request under the Data Protection Act.
I do know that people at other clubs have tried and have come up against major obstacles - forget exactly which but I think one of the DPA opt-outs might be "the prevention of crime" as a data holding exemption. It might alternatively be the data access cost that is allowed to be levied.
For those interested this is what Liberty have to say about the DPA.
http://www.yourrights.org.uk/yourrights ... index.htmlIt is true that there is an exemption:
"Personal data held for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime, apprehending or prosecuting offenders, or assessing and collecting any tax or duty are exempt if disclosure would prejudice one of those purposes."
However, if a football club were abusing this exemption, maybe Liberty might be interested in looking into it?
I doubt cost would prevent anyone applying:
Organisations must register under the Data Protection Act and provide an address for subject access requests in their register entry. The register entry must also specify the purposes for which information is held. A data controller must not hold or use the information for purposes incompatible with those stated in the register entry.
Before supplying information, the data controller is entitled to ask you for proof of your identity and for any further details needed to locate data held about you. It may help if you say what your relationship to the organisation is (for example, customer, employee, student, patient), give any relevant dates or reference numbers and say which of its offices or branches you have dealt with - but don’t volunteer any information you regard as confidential or private. You do not need to say why you want the information. The data controller cannot refuse access because you might use the data to criticise the controller, complain or take legal action.
You may have to pay a fee. At the time of writing the maximum fee is £10, however, some organisations charge less or nothing. If information is held about you in both computer form and in structured paper files, a single £10 fee covers both. Different rules apply to educational records and manual health records, where you could be charged up to £50 - including the cost of all photocopies - and credit reference agency records where the maximum fee is £3.
The data controller must normally give access within 40 days of receiving your request and any supplementary details needed. It must supply the information in permanent form. This normally means a print-out or a photocopy, but could also include copies of microfiches, X-rays, or audio/video cassettes. Any unintelligible terms, such as computer codes, must be explained.
The data controller can refuse to supply a permanent copy of the data if this is not possible or would involve disproportionate effort. You are still entitled to inspect the information at the data controller’s premises.
The other thing is that complying with the provisions of an act such as this could cost a lot of time and effort for an organisation. So I guess if there was a major issue, the point could be pretty well made, merely through a mass request for information.
