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What Information is Held?
  Organisations thrive on information. Without it they would not be able to carry out their business.

Personal information is information about a person and needs to be dealt with carefully to make sure it is not misused.

Almost everything we do seems to involve filling in a form of some sort - either on paper or online. Online businesses will store our details so that we don't have to type them all in again each time we buy anything.

The information held by an organisation will depend on the type of organisation. Some examples...

  • Online retail companies need to know our name and address so they can deliver goods to us, as well as our credit card details so they can receive payment.
  • Banks need to know our account details, so that money transfers go to the right place.
  • The Inland Revenue Tax office needs to know our annual income and expenditures.
  • Car insurance companies will need to know the age, make and model of our car.
  • Overseas Travel agents need to know our passport details.

Most information is necessary for the organisation, but some is used so that the organisation can improve its services.

For example, online retail companies may store information about our shopping habits, so that they can inform us about other goods we may want to buy.

Organisations tend to store more information than they really need in case extreme circumstances arise, but the questions we should ask are...

 
 

Is the information accurate?

Human error can cause inaccuracies in the data. Data verification techniques such as double-keying can minimise potential mistakes when typing. Data is entered twice and only accepted if the two versions are identical.

 

 Passwords on online forms usually have to be entered twice on first entry

 

  
 

Is the information secure?

Organisations spend a lot of time trying to keep their systems secure. Can we be sure that the data is not going to be corrupted or altered in any way?

 

    

Who else can access it?

Are we sure that our data is only being used for the purpose originally intended?

Files of data are sometimes sold to other organisations. This is illegal in some countries unless you have granted permission. Make sure you read the small print on online forms and tick the boxes correctly.