1. Information Commissioner’s Office
The ICO more commonly known as the Information Commissioner's Office is
actually a very self-governing power in the United Kingdom that endorses the
directness of authorized information and defense of private information. Its
website is reported to have said that the ICO does this through the promotion of
good practice along with ruling on genuine complaints and enquires. It also gives
information to all interested parties and organizations and takes immediate
action whenever it finds that the law is breached or broken.
The Information Commissioner’s Office has the authority to report directly to the
parliament if it finds anything or anyone breaching the law or doing anything
that can be considered illegal. This speaks greatly about its power and
significance in the United Kingdom. And there is absolutely no doubt over its
significance because the Ministry of Justice funds it. Click here for more
information.The Information Commissioner’s Office has dealt and still deals with
the Data Protection Act passed back in 1998. It also deals with the Privacy and
Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations passed in 2003, almost
around 10 years ago across the United Kingdom.
The Freedom of Information Act passed in 2000 also comes under the dealings of
the Information Commissioner’s Office along with all the dealings of
Environmental Information Regulations 2004 not just in the United Kingdom but
also in Wales, certain limited parts of Scotland, Northern Island and England.
The role of the Information Commissioner’s Office is very prominent in the
United Kingdom. With dealings of so many important laws passed in the past
some time, the Information Commissioner’s Office is primarily independent and
is appointed by the crown.
All the decisions that come from the Information Commissioner’s Office are
supposed to be supervised by the courts along with the Information Tribunal.
The mission of the Information Commissioner’s Office is to support the rights of
information in the interest of the public and encourage the openness by public
parties and to ensure that individual’s data remains private primarily because of
the Data Protection Act 1998.
Richard Thomas was a commissioner in the Information Commissioner’s Office
and during his tenure and reign; he particularly raised the importance of the
national identity card and the database that supports it. He also gave stress to
other databases for instance the data base of the NHS National along with the
Universal Child Database and the Citizen Information Project. He drew attention
to a number of important factors and made this department progress a lot with
his dedication and hard work through the years.
Currently Mr. Christopher Graham holds the post of the commissioner in the
Information Commissioner’s Office. He overtook the position from Mr. Richard
back in 2009 on the 29th June 2009 to be precise and has been working ever

2. since then. There have been only four commissioners ever since this office came
into existence and he is the fourth and last commissioner to date.
The United Kingdom has seen a lot of improvement ever since the Information
Commissioner’s Office came into existence and the improvement is a continual
process.