Whose data is on the server?
A college server keeps names, addresses and photos of 3,000 students. A cleaner finds a spare disk from it in a skip.
Who is to blame? Who must tell whom? The law has a clear answer.
The first seven articles of the GDPR (the main data protection law) give the starting rules.
Key words
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| GDPR | General Data Protection Regulation: the law that sets the rules for using personal data. |
| Personal data | Any information about a living person who can be named or found. |
| Database | An organised store of records that a program can search. |
| Encryption | Scrambling data so only a person with the right key can read it. |
| Scope | How far a law reaches: which data, which people, which places. |
| Data subject | The person the data is about. |
| Controller | The organisation that decides why and how personal data is used. |
| Processor | A company that handles personal data on behalf of a controller. |
| Processing | Anything done with data: collecting, storing, sending, deleting. |
| Consent | A person's free and clear agreement to the use of their data. |
| ICO | Information Commissioner's Office: the UK body that enforces data protection law. |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
By the end of this lesson
Note
I can say what articles 1 to 7 of the GDPR cover and what each means for a person who runs servers and systems.
Starter: what you know
Have a go
Starter: what you know
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
Cycle 1: which GDPR?
The GDPR began in the EU in 2018. It applies in the EU. The UK kept its own copy, called the UK GDPR. It sits in UK law beside the Data Protection Act 2018.
The seven articles below are in both. A UK firm that serves people in the EU follows the EU one too.
Its purpose: to use, store and send personal data in one standard way, to protect people's privacy.
Articles 1 to 4 at a glance
| Article | Name | What it says in plain words |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Subject matter and objectives | The law protects people's rights over their data, and lets data move freely when it is safe |
| 2 | Material scope | It covers data handled by computer, or kept in an organised file. Private use at home is outside it |
| 3 | Territorial scope | It covers firms based in the area, and firms elsewhere that sell to or watch people there |
| 4 | Definitions | It says what words like personal data, controller and consent mean |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Check: articles 1 to 4
Have a go
Check: articles 1 to 4
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.