This week I had cause to do some serious revision regarding my understanding of data protection regulations as they relate to those of us who operate and run small independent websites.

It began when a friend called on me for advice regarding a social forum where somebody had requested disclosure of all the information held that related to them including private conversations between other members referring to them.

The request had been made using Section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998. Molly Moderator, first wanted to know if she was a data controller – her co-administrators believed they were not. Then she wanted to know how much data she would have to release, if any.

Sadly, the advice was not what she wanted to hear.

This week the British company Whitbread reported highly successful interim results according to its own press release and reflected in interviews with the Chief Executive, Andy Harrison, across the media.

That is all wonderful news for this expanding UK based multinational and many of the interviewers mentioned that its coffee chain, Costa might have benefitted from the bad public relations that have recently hit rival Starbucks.

Harrison was fairly cautious in attributing any of the success of the coffee chain to such issues – he preferred to blame the bad weather for driving chilly punters through his steamy aromatic doors.

The comments Harrison did make, in a short conversation on the business moment on BBC Radio Four’s Today programme on Tuesday, was altogether more relevant for micro enterprise and small business owners than a fight between giants.

This morning I found myself thinking about “North by North West” and “Krakatoa East of Java” as inaccurate film titles.

As you may know, there is no such compass point as NbNW and the volcanic rock that is Krakatoa lies to the west of Indonesian Java.

These, rather famous, geographic inaccuracies are interesting to me as an active critic of inappropriate use or representation of “statements of fact” for presentation.

Personally, I think that Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece is brilliant from the moment the corpulent director steps onto the bus till the sleeper train enters the tunnel. The title of the film is irrelevant when its content is of such superior quality.

Micro business bloggers received a little hopeful news this week in that we are likely to be exempted from the new regulations regarding liability and exemplary damages that was threatened to be imposed after the Leveson enquiry.

The Home Secretary, Theresa May, is putting forward and amendment to the amendment raised by the Lords’ which provides a sensible compromise when “the news-related material is published on an incidental basis that is relevant to the main activities of the business”.

Hopefully, this amendment will go through on the nod when debated on Monday and remove the possibility of micro business enterprises being required to join an approved regulator or face the possibility of hugely costly court battles in the event of disputes.

It was actually quite difficult to keep track of news and stories effecting small business this week as the mainstream media was dominated by a very small number of major events.