The Data Protection Act is a UK Act from their Parliament that provides a legal basis and allowing for the privacy and protection of data of individuals in the UK. What seems to me to be a fairly straightforward piece of legislation, the act places restrictions on organizations which collect or hold data which can identify a living person. While fairly involved and comprehensive, the Act does not apply to domestic use, for example keeping a personal address book.

Data collected by any person or organization may only be used for the specific purposes for which they were collected. Personal data may only be kept for an appropriate length of time and must not be disclosed to other parties without the consent of the data owner, unless, for example, it involves serious matters like prevention or detection of crime. Schools, for example, may decide to keep information on former pupils for no longer than ten years.
The act is overseen by an independent government authority, the Office of the Information Commissioner.

Persons and organizations which store personal data must register with the Information Commissioner.
The UK Data Protection Act is a large Act, and has a reputation for complexity. While the basic principles are honored for protecting privacy, interpreting the act is not always simple. Many companies, organizations and individuals seem very unsure of the aims, content and principles of the DPA. Some it seems hide behind the Act and refuse to provide even very basic, publicly available material quoting the Act as a restriction.

While there is no “easy guide” to the Data Protection Act, you are able to skim though it’s high points and low spots on the internet. In case you were wondering. In 1998 the Data Protection Act expanded the remit of the DPA while implementing the standards to the entire European Union.

So as goes Great Britain, so we go. Proven time and again. It’s been shown through history that as the UK makes a decision or relinquishes responsibility, then the United States ultimately will follow. It might be another several hundred years (know the America is this great Imperial power; thinking we can thumb our noses in everyone else’s business) so when you ask yourself “how does this Data Protection Act affect me?” That’s what you can hold tethered to. The knowledge that we will invariably go the way of the UK, sooner or later.