software

You would be amazed at how fast management will say that paying for software is "too expensive", no mater how much they charge an hour.

My last boss didn't want to pay a cent to replace the bootlegged copies of MS Office '03 that where on almost every machine in the office, I don't think there was even ONE paid version of Office in the place, and don't get me going on the CAD software. I was trying to do my job as IT manager and get the place compliant and legel but every time I tried it was "too expensive" and there was "no reason too".

The funny thing is while he was saying this they where installing a US$400,000 CNC milling machine in the shop.

"I think they deal in books and dust,"

I'm not going to attempt to argue that we are the most dynamic of professions, but, the problem of lack of electronic access is self-perpetuating, unfortunately.

I've been using a COOL-ER ereader for several months now, and I'm a huge fan - but, short of printing legislation from OPSI into PDF to carry around, along with articles etc. for reading offline / without a backlit screen, it is very difficult to get legal texts, or even statutes, in an accessible and portable electronic form.

Which, in turns, leads to a reliance on books.

Which, in turn, means that publishers see lawyers buying lots of books, and so produce contents as books.

Some content is available electronically, but, not enough; perhaps this is gradually starting to change, but, I am not holding my hopes out yet.

Legislation and case law should be accessible to all - in the same way that, when dealing with open source software, for example, someone might look to engage me to configure a system for them, or build a custom feature, but need not pay for the underlying code, no-one should have to pay me for access to "the law", but rather pays for my advice and experience in terms of interpreting or applying it to their situation.

(However, before I'd be willing to put anything in the way of privileged, confidential or other non-public or personal information on my COOL-ER, I'd need encryption support.)

Oustanding idea sir...

...perhaps we can recycle the lawyers remains to grow more trees as well!

"does the medium make a difference?"

The Data Protection Act 1998, defines "data" in section 1, as "information which:

(a) is being processed by means of equipment operating automatically in response to instructions given for that purpose,

(b) is recorded with the intention that it should be processed by means of such equipment,

(c) is recorded as part of a relevant filing system or with the intention that it should form part of a relevant filing system, or

(d) does not fall within paragraph (a), (b) or (c) but forms part of an accessible record as defined by section 68." [which includes health records and the like.]

On the basis of this, information stored on paper may not qualify as "data" for the purposes of the act if it not capable of automatic processing, or is not stored in (or is not, in itself) "a relevant filing system". A relevant filing system is basically something which has an index or a structure, which allows the capability of retrieving specific information about an identifiable individual.

In the case of a bundle of paper, it's unlikely that this is the case - unless it has an index attached, which lists individuals by name, with each document on which they are mentioned - and, on this basis, probably is not data.

But, I think what you are actually saying is that, irrespective of vaguaries of "data protection" law, the wider concept of privacy should be considered- the fact that a particular information storage system falls outside the requirements of the Data Protection Act does not mean that the document should be treated without care.

(Sometimes, we do need a third party to give us, as a profession, a bad name...)

I agree with JohnG...

...although that may be giving the lawyer a little too much intellectual credit. He may, just may, have been trying to make a point which quite rightly back-fired. The vast majority of data-loss that we mere mortals hear about are due to individual incompetence i.e. lost (read 'left') on a train, taxi, plane etc. If lawyers are too afraid that they're inept enough to leave a disc/USB stick somewhere they shouldn't they probably shouldn't be lawyers.

Personally, I carry around three USB memory devices, one super-slim (credit card width), one standard and one just very, very small, after at least two years I've managed to lose none of them.

Data Protection Act (not sure which one)

The last time I looked in detail in the act, it talked about computer readable information, which, if you take it literally, should mean paper records as scanners and OCR have existed for ages.

"computer readable information"

Not a definition which I've come across before, in the context of data protection, to be honest!

Interistingly

An early end run around the DPA access requirements was to have an index on a computer, which could be quickly searched, and all the actual data stored on paper files.

Juicy Lucy Virgin Soldiers .......... Crack Coding Troupers

"For some time I have thought that the real man from Mars has been fiendishly killed, this post proves it.

That or the software used for generating the posts has learnt sufficiently to be able to take over the world now." .... John G Imrie Posted Wednesday 23rd December 2009 17:56 GMT

The post would then presumably prove the latter promising option, John G Imrie, but for now ITs ProgramMING would content itself with taking over from the outdated and outclassed PROMIS Software although I do suppose that leaves the world take over just like a walk in the park, although most definitely an Absolutely Fabulous Walk on the Wild Side of Life too.

And kissingthecarpet just shows us all how easy it is to be duped and/or led with Simple Text and CompleXXXX Words [CodedD XSSXXXX TXT] into believing something which is totally false, ..."This guys just a cheap copy......." ..... allowing one to forge ahead, completely unhindered as if practically invisible, via the simple expedient of appearing quite normal. And whenever one knows what PROMIS is supposed to be able to do, you will certainly not expect anything which replaces it to be anything but extremely expensive not to have and something which one just has to have, at whatever the cost ..... for the Bargain of a Life Time.

And yes ....... we are talking Holy Grail Type Key Stuff which renders Reality as you may know it, as AIMemory best Forgotten to make Best Beta Use of the Future as IT will be Revealed and Presented to you with SMARTer Media and NEUKlearer HyperRadioProActive IT ProgramMINGs ...... Live Operational Virtual Environment Projects.

Paper documents

My boss received a request for 4 desktop computers to be taken off-site (which is highly irregular). They were filled out in blue ink and everything. When she queried the user, he admitted sheepishly that he was requesting 4 LAPTOPS but had colour-photocopied the filled-out form for his recently requested replacement office desktop (just rewrote the cover sheet). Without a magnifying glass it was impossible to tell the blue ink marks were not directly from a pen - even the shade of blue and thickness of ink as the pen gummed-up and un-gummed during writing were preserved perfectly.

DP Amendments

True, but it was a bit limited. The extension of the DPA to cover data held in unstructured manual records applies only to public sector bodies, which would include the Courts as in this case.

However, thanks to a (IMHO) spectacularly ill considered judgement in the now infamous Durant case, private sector bodies can obfuscate as much as they like by holding manual records in an unstructured format.

According to the Durant judgement, files are unstructured if they aren't readily searchable.The fact that a file may relate entirely to a bank's dealings with one individual isn't enough to justify making that bank look through it for data to release.

So, if you're in the private sector and you don't want the masses to find out quite how badly you're screwing them over, just hold their personal data in unstructured files. Given that you've probably laid off all your experienced records management staff in a cost cutting exercise, that should't be too hard.

"Are they paid at least partly by the page for paper documents? "

I've never heard this to be the case - mostly, lawyers are paid on the basis of time spent (printing costs and the like tend to be charged on top of this), or else via a fixed fee arrangements.

However, most of my clients want shorter documents rather than longer ones - I can't see anyone thanking me for producing an unnecessarily long document, or anything which unnecessarily holds up the main purpose of their business, which is generally making money.