Data protection laws ''are too lax''

Monday, July 19, 2010

A survey of almost 1200 organisations has revealed deep concern about the robustness of the UK's current data protection legislation.

The survey, conducted by IT security and data protection firm Sophos, found that nearly 50 per cent of respondents felt the laws were too relaxed and needed to be revised while 87 per cent felt that organisations should be forced to disclose when sensitive data about the public is exposed.

In April this year, the Information Commissioner's Office was given the power to impose fines of up to £500,000 on companies that breached data protection principles.

"The survey's findings revealed that while almost 40 per cent of businesses were confident they complied with the legislation, more than half were unsure or concerned about whether they were compliant," said Ciaran Rafferty, vice president of Sophos UK and Ireland.