国际英语资讯:Commentary: Britain takes step to protect personal data in digital era_时事

国际英语资讯:Commentary: Britain takes step to protect personal data in digital era

LONDON, Aug. 10 -- The British government has announced to update and strengthen data protection laws through a new Data Protection Bill, a welcome step in the digital era when the leakage of personal information has become a worrisome problem worldwide.

From Europe to Asia, and to America, almost every country, either developing or developed, has been haunted by such a problem -- millions of Internet users' personal information was hacked, raising concerns about web security and triggering widespread panic.

The new bill, designed to sign European privacy rules into British law, as well as update the existing Data Protection Act which has remained unchanged in the island country since 1998, aims to give the British public greater control over personal data.

The new bill expands the definition of "personal data" to include IP addresses, internet cookies and DNA.

Under the new measures, everyone responsible for using data has to follow even stricter rules called "data protection principles." They must make sure the information is used fairly and lawfully, for limited, specifically stated purposes and in a way that is adequate, relevant and not excessive.

At the same time, the personal information should be kept for no longer than is absolutely necessary.

In practice, the new requirement will be subject to some exemptions, but may cause a headache for businesses, some of whom may not have data stored in files or on analogue tapes, making it difficult to sort their data.