Does the Data Protection Act provide protection to private individuals and companies?

The Data Protection Act indeed provides protection primarily to individuals, especially concerning their personal data. It establishes guidelines for how personal information should be collected, processed, and stored, ensuring that individuals have rights over their data. This includes the right to access their data, the right to have inaccurate data corrected, and the right to have their data erased under certain circumstances.

While the Act imposes responsibilities on companies and organizations that handle data, its primary focus is on safeguarding the rights of private individuals. Companies must comply with the provisions of the Act when processing personal data, but they are not the primary beneficiaries of the protection it affords. Therefore, the statement that the Data Protection Act provides protection to private individuals does hold true, while the assertion that it equally applies to companies in terms of providing them protection is misleading.