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MP's Expenses (UK): Whistle Blower Should Be Prosecuted!
May 23, 2009 at 10:36 am
Friend of mine posted this on Facebook: "This guy should go to jail, after all he committed a crime and sold private information disregarding the data protection act. It matters not that the public like the information it is still a crime."
I disagree but I thought I'd ask what other UK'ers thought first?
Kyu
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RE: MP's Expenses (UK): Whistle Blower Should Be Prosecuted!
May 26, 2009 at 6:52 pm
England like America is a nation of laws. For instance, it is immaterial if waterboarding (torture) worked and saved every life in the universe, it is still illegal.
I believe in this situation the state should prosecute as it is required to do so, and a jury should nullify the law for this particular case. (Yes, I believe in jury nullification.)
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RE: MP's Expenses (UK): Whistle Blower Should Be Prosecuted!
May 27, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Ah, but that assumes the Law is always right. It is not and sometimes must be protested against or even broken e.g. freedom of expresion supressed etc.
On the other hand, once you make an exeption, you must make others and this can lead to farce, so it is a tricky one. I will opt out and let the courts decide.
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RE: MP's Expenses (UK): Whistle Blower Should Be Prosecuted!
May 27, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Actually, my friend is wrong on one thing ... the data protection act has nothing to do with an individuals responsibility to not divulge that data, the data protection act covers the responsibility of companies (and their employees I suppose) to safely store data and keep it secure etc. making it only available to those with the proper authority to access it. At least that's how I understand it.
He did, however, claim another thing which is that the whistleblower didn't just give the expense data to the newspaper but gave them a CD full of credit card details and much, much more than the information that we (the public) believe we have the right to know and if that is so then there is reason for concern. I do not know if this is true.
Kyu
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