A strange case of PC reared it's baffling head yesterday.
My wife and I visited the Discovery Museum at Blandford Street, Newcastle on Tyne. There she headed straight through the crowds of school kids to the Archives Section and I followed dutifully behind, pausing only to admire the sleek lines of the "Turbinia" once the fastest vessel in the world, which is given pride of place at the entrance.
With 'SWMBO' settled at a microfiche viewer scrolling industriously away through her ancestors' records, I took a browse through the map and street indices of the 40's and 50's. Locating my five homes across Tyneside was easy , and only confirmed what I already knew, that all but the first had been demolished long ago.
Then a thought struck. Why not see if the records of my old Secondary school were held amongst the vast filing systems? A pleasant young lady assistant took my request and promised to bring the records to me. She later appeared with a large book opened at a page and there was my name duly registered as joining the School on the 4th Sept, 1950 and leaving on the 23rd July 1954 . At the end of the line was the curt comment "Completed Course"
Pleased to have found this solitary record of my education, I made to look through the rest of the book, but was firmly refused permission by this still smiling young lady. Her reason? The Data Protection Act of 1972 forbids anyone from perusing those records. Anyone, that is, apart from a policeman bearing a search warrant or a person like myself who could only look at their own name! I copied the sparse information down and handed the bulky volume back to her feeling a bit frustrated. This feeling was not alleviated when I realised that my wife was still scrolling through several hundred copies of Birth and Baptismal certificates and there was no one denying her in her searches. All are allowed free and unfettered access to literally thousands of names and full addresses, names of parents, god-parents, occupations and status. Yet the microscopically brief details of my classmates and I are held for posterity under close guard!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
An interesting start to your blog, Rock Ape. A shame that you could not read about your ex school mates. Keep it coming
ReplyDeleteNow I thought that the data protection act applied to computerised data not entries in a book. Perhaps I'm wrong.
ReplyDeleteI decided to have a look at the data protection act and it seems it may well apply to non-computer records pertaining to education (school records etc) and medical records.
ReplyDeleteIt also applies to local authority tenencies and Social services records.
IANAL
Hi Eddie
ReplyDeleteTesting to see if this works
Found it now - and congratulations on a good blog!
ReplyDeleteMy comment on your post here was in fact a question: were you asked for ID before you could see your own school record? You don't mention it.
L
No proof of ID was required, a simple request form with my name on secured a brief look at my registration details and confirmation of course completion
ReplyDeleteIn that case her caution seems a bit belated...
ReplyDeleteAfter all, you could have been anyone.
L