The Data Protection Act 1998 forms, with its retinue of subordinate regulations, an opaque and often tedious body of law. According to the Information Commissioner: "the Data Protection Act gives individuals the right to know what information is held about them, and it provides a framework to ensure that personal information is handled properly". It is concerned with misuse of personal information by commercial organisations, rather than by government.

Data protection law is the cause behind the ubiquitous website privacy policy or statement. The main purpose of these statements is to fulfil the information requirements of the 1998 Act.

• Data Protection Act 1998 - Search using the site engine for "Data Protection Act 1998".
• Information Commissioner - The data protection pages from the Information Commissioner's website. These include a search tool for the Data Protection Register
• Out-law.com - Out-law.com's data protection pages.
• JISC - A JISC briefing paper on data protection.
• Comply with data protection legislation - An introductory guide from businesslink.gov.uk
• OECD Privacy Policy Generator - A privacy policy generator from the OECD. Note that the policies produced by this method are not tailored to UK law. We recommend using the website-law.co.uk privacy policy template and guidance notes.

The information contained on these WebLaw pages has been provided by the excellent website-law.co.uk reproduced here for educational purposes.