http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jun/17/pressandpublishing.privacy By Owen Gibson media correspondent The Guardian June 17 2008 The editor of the Daily Mail, Paul Dacre, has promised to re-examine the rules that prevent journalists hacking into computers to obtain personal information, to clarify and possibly tighten them, after becoming chairman of the body responsible for the editors' code that governs newspapers and magazines. In his report on the activities of the committee that reviews and revises the self-regulatory code overseen by the Press Complaints Commission, he said the industry had faced a challenging year. "The threat of custodial sentences under the Data Protection Act was particularly worrying because of the effect it would have had on press freedom by inhibiting investigative reporting," he said. "Such sentences would also have meant that Britain would have been one of the only countries in the civilised world to jail journalists trying to do their job." Richard Thomas, the information commissioner, has campaigned for jail sentences for journalists breaking data protection laws after he compiled two reports showing that newspapers - including the Daily Mail - habitually bought personal details from private investigators. [...] _______________________________________________ Attend Black Hat USA, August 2-7 in Las Vegas, the world's premier technical event for ICT security experts. Featuring 40 hands-on training courses and 80 Briefings presentations with lots of new content and new tools. Network with 4,000 delegates from 50 nations. Visit product displays by 30 top sponsors in a relaxed setting. http://www.blackhat.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Tue Jun 17 2008 - 02:05:29 PDT