ABSTRACT
In 2004 the Information Commissioner commissioned research into the question
‘What is personal data?’. The report 1
considered several aspects of the question.
First, the sociological issues were identified as our fears arising from modernity,
bureaucracy and the use of information by organisations and the state. Our fears also
relate to social control and surveillance, the identification and accountability of
individuals and how these might be used to serve the interests of the powerful.
