Media News - Friday, August 08, 2008

Freelances threatened with data protection fine

Freelance journalists in Britain have been warned they are breaking the law and could be fined thousands of pounds unless they register with the Information Commissioner’s Office as a “data controller”. The UK Press Gazette has learned that the ICO has begun approaching freelances, urging them to register – because the personal information they collect in their day-to-day work is covered by the Data Protection Act. Under the law, anyone electronically processing data such as contact details is required to hand over any information about a named person if that person requests it – but lawyers have said most of the information gathered by journalists is exempt. The National Union of Journalists has reminded its freelance members of the need to register – and has said the fine for failing to do so could be as high as £5,000 (6,355.36 EUR). Staff journalists are not required to sign up, because the company that employs them should already be on the ICO’s database.

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