Judgment Approved by the court for handing down
(a)
(b)
111.
R (Bridges) v CCSWP and SSHD
at least one of the conditions in schedule 2 is met, and
in the case of sensitive personal data, at least one of the
conditions in schedule 3 is also met”
The primary point of dispute is the extent to which using AFR Locate entails
processing personal data. Three definitions at Section 1 of the DPA 1998 are
relevant: “data”; “processing”; and “personal data”. So far as material, the
definition of “data” is as follows
“data means information which –
(a)
is being processed by means of equipment operating
automatically in response to instructions giving for
that purpose,
is recorded with the intention that it should be processed
by means of such equipment.”
(b)
“Processing” is defined as follows:
“in relation to information or data, means obtaining, recording or
holding the information or data or carrying out any operation or set of
operations on the information or data, including –
(a)
organisation, adaptation or alteration of the information or
data,
(b)
(c)
retrieval, consultation or use of the information or data,
disclosure of the information or data by transmission,
dissemination or otherwise making available, or
alignment, combination, blocking, erasure, or destruction of
the information or data”.
“Personal data” is defined as meaning
“… data which relates to a living individual who can be identified –
(a)
(b)
from those data, or
from those data and other information which is in
the possession, of or is likely to come into the
procession of, the data controller,
and includes any expression of opinion about the
individual and any indication of the intentions of the data
controller or any other person in respect of the
individual.”
112.
SWP accepts that the use of AFR Locate entails the processing of personal
data as those terms are defined in the DPA 1998. However, it contends that
the only personal data processed is the data of persons on the watchlist, since it
is only those persons that SWP can identify by name. The position is