[ILUG] Does www.RateMyTeacher.IE meet criteria of Data Protection Act.

[Eircom - Carroll]

I am interested in the views of this informed group on the web site
www.RateMyTeacher.IE, specifically regarding the Data Protection Act.

This site names and rates teachers - ostensibly from comments from
pupils and their parents - from 1 (poor) to 5 (good). It also has an
additional COMMENTS field, used to offer such pearls as...
 'Needs to learn to relax and stop cracking the same old "jokes".Good
 because she gets the top students not because she inspires them.'.
...or...
 'one of the most sad people i have ever met. Has a bad attitude
 toward students and will live a long and lonley life.'

The site also features a "Wall of Shame" that names schools firewalling
access to this site.

In my forties, I joined opened an account as an unidentifiable 14-year
old using a friends PC and was immediately capable of sullying any
teacher's, or schools reputation.

Can a commercial site offering such "facilities" against clearly
identifiable individuals, by persons anonymous, be legal?

Yours, etc,
C O'Donoghue.