Moves to tighten data protection

Mr Harris said the island should move in line with the UK

Directors of companies in Guernsey who breach data protection laws could be sent to jail under new proposals.

The data protection commissioner has asked the States of Guernsey to toughen sanctions in line with UK legislation.

If agreed company directors could face up to two years in prison if their business breaks the rules.

Publishing his annual report Peter Harris said the move was necessary and rules on extradition would help bring international criminals to justice.

Website security

He said the main example of a local breach was when the States of Guernsey website was hacked into 18 months ago.

"That's led to a huge increase in awareness within the States of security and certainly I've been very pleased in the way that they've responded to that and their websites are now far more secure than they used to be," Mr Harris said.

"These laws are quite difficult, quite complex and it's only when people breach them that they realised in fact they've been doing something wrong.

"It's only when members of the public bring up issues that perhaps we can investigate them and make sure we don't make these sort of mistakes again."

The proposal is due to go before the States at its November meeting.