Personal Data
The Act covers any data about a living and identifiable individual. Anonymised or aggregated data is not regulated by the Act, providing the anonymisation or aggregation has not been done in a reversible way. Individuals can be identified by various means including their name and address, telephone number or Email address. The Act applies only to data which is held, or intended to be held, on computers ('equipment operating automatically in response to instructions given for that purpose'), or held in a 'relevant filing system'.
In some cases even a paper address book can be classified as a 'relevant filing system', for example diaries used to support commercial activities such as a salesperson's diary.
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 modified the act for public bodies and authorities, and the Durant case modified the interpretation of the act by providing case law and precedent.
Read more about this topic: Data Protection Act 1998
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