Dave Everitt, General manager EMEA at Absolute Software, writes in to tell us why more transparency and advice is needed from regulators.
Sir/Madam,
It’s absolutely right that the Government opens up UK and European data protection laws for public input. After all, it’s the general public who are often the ultimate victims in the event of a data leak (‘Government calls for public feedback on data protection law’, July 6, 2010).
However it’s important to remember that in many cases the problem is ignorance, rather than deliberate deviance when it comes to data protection law. When the ICO’s fines for data loss came into force in April 2010, we found that 48% of IT managers were simply not aware that they existed.
In opening up legislation for input from businesses and consumers, the law will hopefully become more transparent and advice given to businesses by regulators should encompass all forms of data protection available to them. Businesses must understand they can take action to stop data loss. As we’ve seen time and time again, simply hoping it won’t happen is no way to reassure the public that their data is safe.
Dave Everitt, General manager EMEA, Absolute Software
