AnCaps
ANARCHO-CAPITALISTS
Bitch-Slapping Statists For Fun & Profit Based On The Non-Aggression Principle
 
HomePortalGalleryRegisterLog in

 

 UK: Call to scrap government's illegal databases

View previous topic View next topic Go down 
AuthorMessage
CovOps

CovOps

Female Location : Ether-Sphere
Job/hobbies : Irrationality Exterminator
Humor : Über Serious

UK: Call to scrap government's illegal databases Vide
PostSubject: UK: Call to scrap government's illegal databases   UK: Call to scrap government's illegal databases Icon_minitimeSun Mar 22, 2009 11:29 pm

A quarter of all government databases are illegal and should be scrapped or redesigned, a report has claimed.

The Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust says storing information leads to vulnerable people, such as young black men, single parents and children, being victimised.

It says the UK's "database state" wastes billions from the public purse and often breaches human rights laws.

But the government says the report contains "no substantive evidence" on which to base its conclusions.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said the government was "never losing sight" of its obligations under the data protection and human rights acts.

"It takes its responsibilities seriously and will consider any concerns carefully, adapting existing safeguards where necessary," he added.

The government spends £16bn a year on databases and plans to spend a further £105bn on information technology (IT) projects over the next five years, according to the trust.

'Toxic issue'

It claims even the government does not know the precise number of the "thousands" of systems it operates.

In the wake of numerous data loss scandals, the cross-party trust - which campaigns for civil liberties and social justice - examined 46 public sector systems.

It said 11 were "almost certainly" illegal under human rights or data protection laws.

These included the national DNA database and ContactPoint, a national index of all children in England holding biographical and contact information and noting their relationship with public services.

ContactPoint, intended to aid child protection, has already been criticised by Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, who say at £224m it is too expensive and could put children at risk if security is not tight enough.

When examining criminal justice systems, the trust discovered one woman's details will stay on the Police National Computer until she is 100 because she was cautioned over a playground fight when she was 13.

Meanwhile, the genetic fingerprints of nearly four-in-10 black men aged under 35 were held on the DNA database in England, where records are not deleted even when people are acquitted or released without charge, the report claimed.

One of its authors, Professor Ross Anderson of Cambridge University, said: "Britain's database state has become a financial, ethical and administrative disaster which is penalising some of the most vulnerable members of our society."

Co-author Terri Dowty, director of Action on Rights for Children, said systems such as Onset - a tool for identifying potential youth offenders - can stigmatise youngsters.

With programmes under way to store Onset assessments and make them available to police, the information could cloud officers' judgement when it comes to dealing with these youngsters in future, she said.

'Slack attitude'

Ms Dowty said the fear of being monitored was such that young mothers were covering up their post-natal depression or not taking children to casualty for fear of triggering social services involvement.

The non-charitable trust says the planned NHS Detailed Care Record will allow many care providers to add "Wikipedia-style" comments, without proper control or accountability.

Another target for criticism is the Department for Work and Pension's data-sharing programme.

It is developing an £89m identity system for anyone who has ever had a National Insurance number, which will be accessible to 140,000 government staff and 445 local authorities.

Early deployment of the system had led to staff at 30 councils abusing the system and information being made available to private firms, according to the trust.

"The problem with a lot of these information systems is the number of people who have access to them. It's the slack attitude to data security which is most worrying," said Ms Dowty.

She said this was not merely a concern in terms of the potential for identity crime.

"I wouldn't like to think of my medical records being left on a USB stick in someone's car," she said.

Transparency

The trust wants the government to store data more transparently and to allow sensitive information to be shared only with people's consent, or at least when subject to clear legal rules.

But the report states: "There is a sense in the senior civil service and among politicians that the personal data issue is now career-threatening and toxic.

"Like Chernobyl, some brave souls need to go in and sort it out."

Peers on the Lords constitution committee warned last month that electronic surveillance and collection of personal data had become "pervasive" in British society and threatened to undermine democracy.

Conservative justice spokeswoman Eleanor Laing said: "The government must urgently adopt a principled, proportionate, less centralised approach to collecting personal information that takes real account of our privacy and is based on the consent of individuals and families."

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: "In their desperation to track our every move, ministers have created a glut of databases, many of which are quite simply illegal."

A Home Office spokesman said ministers were committed to "striking the balance" between the individuals' rights and the ability to fight crime.

Tests were carried out to make sure measures were proportionate, transparent and featured safeguards, he said, pointing out that the ID card scheme will be independently monitored and that people would be entitled to see their data and who has accessed it.

"Meanwhile, technology such as DNA and CCTV is providing clear benefits in deterring and detecting crime, securing convictions and reducing fear of crime," he added.

DATABASES CRITICISED
ContactPoint: To hold name, address, gender, date of birth, school and health provider of every child in England
National DNA database: Of 4.5m people whose genetic fingerprints are on the database, more than 500,000 are innocent, including 39,000 children

Communications database: Plan to centralise details of calls and websites visited from phone companies and internet providers, open to 510 public authorities

Onset: A profiling tool which examines a child's behaviour and social background to identify potential child offenders

Detailed Care Record: When rolled out, will allow hospitals, GPs nurses, social workers and others to update patient's records with "wikipedia-style" entries
Source: Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7955205.stm
Back to top Go down
 

UK: Call to scrap government's illegal databases

View previous topic View next topic Back to top 
Page 1 of 1

Permissions in this forum:You cannot reply to topics in this forum
 :: Anarcho-Capitalist Categorical Imperatives :: AnCaps In Science, Technology & Environment-