Website user data owner

[visibleman]

Just a quick question, user signs up to your site with their name, DOB, address etc and the data is stored in your DB on your server; does that data belong to you or am I right in think it still belongs to the user? And does any UK law outline/cover this?

Cheers

 

[~Divine~Wind~]

Data Protection Act perhaps?

 

[GravyMonster]

IANAL, but as I believe the data is yours at that point. My understanding is that if a user does not permit you to own the data, they have the choice of not entering it in to a form on your website.

As a matter of course, there should be a list of terms on your website which state what you will do with this information (selling it to 3rd parties, or just for your own stats) whether it would ever be published etc.

 

[macmodder]

I'm by no means a legal expert but something has become quite clear from the work I've done on websites in the past: theory and practice are very different.

In theory by giving you their data you now 'own' it within the restrictions of the data protection act.

However the law sides with the user if you don't have a clear and legal data policy accessible at the time of sign-up. If you either don't have one, or it isn't legally sound then you basically don't have much ground to stand on. Legally sound usually means lawyers unfortunately.

 

[AJK]

Data Protection Act is certainly the right legislation, and if you're collecting personal data from people you should become familiar with it. Basically, someone else's personal data doesn't really ever "belong" to you; that is, it doesn't become your data to do with as you please. You "control" that data while you hold it, and you can "process" it within the restrictions of the DPA and your agreement with your user.