Data Access Laws In the UK

Hi Everyone

This is a data base question so don't switch off thinking it is a Data
Protection Act Question.

I'm Looking for some general information regarding the UK Law on
rights to access data within a database provided by a third party
software provider.

They are preventing me from ODBC Access to their data base and say
that the only way I can access the data held in the data base is
through CSV reports that their custom app can provide.

I am building a datawarehouse and require the data to be DTS'sed to my
OLAP server on a regular basis...but theyt rae denying me access the
database is Oracle so their should really be no problems but they are
hitting me with all the usual invalidate warranty claims.

Does anyone know what UK law has to say in this matter, o0r can you
point me to a good resource.

TIA

Maria"Maria" <nottyshagger69@.yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:e4ba2d0e.0405130142.352a0aee@.posting.google.c om...
> Hi Everyone
> This is a data base question so don't switch off thinking it is a Data
> Protection Act Question.
> I'm Looking for some general information regarding the UK Law on
> rights to access data within a database provided by a third party
> software provider.
> They are preventing me from ODBC Access to their data base and say
> that the only way I can access the data held in the data base is
> through CSV reports that their custom app can provide.
> I am building a datawarehouse and require the data to be DTS'sed to my
> OLAP server on a regular basis...but theyt rae denying me access the
> database is Oracle so their should really be no problems but they are
> hitting me with all the usual invalidate warranty claims.
> Does anyone know what UK law has to say in this matter, o0r can you
> point me to a good resource.
> TIA
> Maria

(from a non-legal background)

It sounds to me as though you've got a efw questions tied into one here.

--

If this is a third-party software provider, then what is your contract with
them ? Are they supplying you with the right to the data (in whatever way
that you wish), or are they supplying software to you that will allow you to
access their data.

The fact that their database server is running Oracle (or MySQL or SQL
Server) shouldn't matter - this would seem to come down to an issue of what
they have committed to providing

There is a difference between "read-only access direct to their database"
(where you can control any filters / queries ) and "access to data from
their database" (where they charge you for providing a report or
data-extract based on your request)

--

I can see nothing here that would have anything to do with a warranty --
maybe they think that by providing you access to their database, they have
lost 100% control of it, so will refuse to support it .

Just a thought

Steven|||I have recently dealt with a similar issue, and there's more than just a legal
question involved. Since the company is selling you a system based on its
external behavior, they are not committing to maintain the same internal
structure each time the product is updated.

In looking at the internal structure of one program I'm trying to get data out
of, I see that the internal structures change with some frequency over time.
Thus, the wise choice for reliably getting data out of this system is to only
use the documented interfaces to the application which the provider has
committed to maintain, and provide documentation on any changes to.

Yes, someone has to manually export the data, and yes, it's silly that I have
to re-normalize data that probably comes out of a normalized structure to
begin with, but that's still the most reliable answer. I would also talk to
your data provider about providing you some sort of ActiveX interface that
could at least be automated, and could provide the data in a more robust
format than csv (e.g. disconnected ADO recordset or XML).

On 13 May 2004 02:42:59 -0700, nottyshagger69@.yahoo.co.uk (Maria) wrote:

>Hi Everyone
>This is a data base question so don't switch off thinking it is a Data
>Protection Act Question.
>I'm Looking for some general information regarding the UK Law on
>rights to access data within a database provided by a third party
>software provider.
>They are preventing me from ODBC Access to their data base and say
>that the only way I can access the data held in the data base is
>through CSV reports that their custom app can provide.
>I am building a datawarehouse and require the data to be DTS'sed to my
>OLAP server on a regular basis...but theyt rae denying me access the
>database is Oracle so their should really be no problems but they are
>hitting me with all the usual invalidate warranty claims.
>Does anyone know what UK law has to say in this matter, o0r can you
>point me to a good resource.
>TIA
>Maria