From David Moody.
MY prediction for the year 2009 is that P147, Senator Ozouf’s proposed amendment to the Data Protection (Jersey) Law, will be approved by the States by default; the Council of Ministers will vote for it en bloc, as will 11 out of the 12 Constables.

This is not omniscient soothsaying but a safe prediction based on well-established voting trends in the States.

This is an invidious and dangerous amendment, for while the existing exemptions which had given some protection against draconian enforcement have yet to be tested in a competent court, the latest amendment, if approved, will give the Data Protection Commissioner almost unmitigated powers to demand information from everybody and anybody who could loosely be described as controlling data.

Senator Ozouf is convinced such an amendment is compliant with Article 16 of the Human Rights (Jersey) Law 2000. Good luck with that.

I would urge people to consider this amendment very carefully. It is available to download on www.gov.je