Legislation has been introduced to regulate any personal data that has been collected and is intended for use. The regulations cover information stored both on computers and manually.
The legislation allows a member of the general public to find out what data is being held on them and for what purposes.
Should I notify?
The Information Commissioner maintains a public register of data controllers. The Data Protection Act 1998 requires every data controller who is processing personal data to notify unless they are exempt.
There are criminal penalties from failure to register but there is a greater risk of bad publicity and the loss of loss of customers from the failure of your company to follow best practice.
