The Data Protection Act was the United Kingdom package of legislation put into effect for the conditions and circumstances surrounding the release of information in an electronic form pertaining to the personal details of citizens of this country. In this regard, the main Data Protection Act summary to be referred, as consists of eight main principles, refers to the version of the law passed into effect in 1998, after the earlier 1984 version.

The Data Protection Act 1984 was the first version of this legislation to be enacted in the United Kingdom. As such, the Data Protection Act was passed as an Act of Parliament under the Margaret Thatcher administration. The basis for the later Data Protection Act principles later adopted in a more concerted form can be found in this document, which was eventually superseded by additions drafted in both 1998 and 2003. 

The Data Protection Act as it is in effect in the United Kingdom at present mainly derives from the Data Protection Act 1998 package of legislation as was passed at that time. The Data Protection Act 1998 summary as has been issued mainly consists of eight basic principles as are held to be true for the people who are protected under this legislative framework, and pertain to permissible access to such documents, among other things. 

The Data Protection Act 2003 was a reform piece of legislation passed toward the earlier 1998 Data Protection Act, as continued to hold true and function for the most part in regard to the electronic privacy rights of UK citizens. One new matter which this iteration of the Data Protection Act newly made provisions for consisted of the right of UK residents to go without unsolicited direct marketing phone calls. 

The Data Protection Act is a piece of legislation in effect in the United Kingdom for controlling the permissible extent to which data can be compiled, collected and registered in regard to the personal details of people. Any Data Protection Act summary which seeks to elucidate the functioning of the Data Protection Act and its effect on those people living in the United Kingdom should refer, at least in part, to the legislative history of this law.

In this regard, then, the main framework for the Data Protection Act should be noted as deriving from a law which was passed in 1998 to modify earlier legislation which had been passed in 1984. Moreover, the basic Data Protection Act summary had to be altered somewhat after further legislative changes were enacted in 2003 to change some of the provisions contained in the legislation.

In that the Data Protection Act was passed with a mind to specifically provide for eight specific principles related to information processing, any effective Data Protection Act summary should be further sought after as providing for an understanding of these points.

In this respect, the Data Protection Act summary which has been issued specifies that U.K. personal details cannot be used non-consensually, for non-specified purposes, for unspecified periods of time, or freely outside of the European Economic Area, and that they must accessible to the people they pertain to, and open to such corrections as those individuals might issue, as well as adequately guarded against security violations and breaches.

The current Data Protection Act principles in place and effect in the United Kingdom provide for the security and general inaccessibility of personal information pertaining to U.K. citizens and residents, and as such can first be traced back to the Data Protection Act 1984. That being said, the present state in which the Data Protection Act principles are held and maintained by the U.K. government have more to do with the later legislation which was put into effect in 1998 and, later, in 2003.

The Data Protection Act 1984 did play a constructive part in the general debate and discussion over this area of the law, establishing such Data Protection Act principles as the responsibility of the custodians of information placed in electronic form to prevent general access to such data as might occur with the knowledge or consent, and accordingly against the wishes, of the people to whom the information pertains. For such reasons, Parliament under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher decided to enact the law comprising the Data Protection Act 1984.

Soon thereafter, another piece of legislation followed the Data Protection Act 1984, one also pertaining to the importance of Data Protection Act principles, referred to as the Access to Personal Files Act 1987. The need for change to the Data Protection Act 1984, and to its aforementioned supporting pillar for Data Protection Act principles, derived from the passage of the European Data Protection Directive. According to the strengthened Data Protection Act principles thus mandated, the Data Protection Act 1984 was accordingly strengthened.