The Big Brother state – by stealth
Thousands of unaccountable civil servants given access to our most
intimate personal information
By Robert Verkaik, Law Editor
Thursday, 4 December 2008
Personal information detailing intimate aspects of the lives of every
British citizen is to be handed over to government agencies under
sweeping new powers. The measure, which will give ministers the right to
allow all public bodies to exchange sensitive data with each other, is
expected to be rushed through Parliament in a Bill to be published
tomorrow.
The new legislation would deny MPs a full vote on such data-sharing.
Instead, ministers could authorise the swapping of information between
councils, the police, NHS trusts, the Inland Revenue, education
authorities, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority, the Department
for Work and Pensions and other ministries.
Opponents of the move accused the Government of bringing in by stealth a
data-sharing programme that exposed everyone to the dangers of a Big
Brother state and one of the most intrusive personal databases in the
world. The new law would remove the right to protection against misuse
of information by thousands of unaccountable civil servants, they added.
Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe's commissioner for human
rights, said he believed Britain had gone too far in helping to bring
about a "surveillance society". In a report drawing on personal data
infringements across Europe but "inspired" by Britain's plan for a new
internet, email and telephone database, he added: "General surveillance
raises serious democratic problems which are not answered by the
repeated assertion that those who have nothing to hide have nothing to
fear. This puts the onus in the wrong place: it should be for states to
justify the interferences they seek to make on privacy rights."
He said he was "very worried about the downgrading of the protections of
personal information"
be struck. At the moment we have not got it right."
David Howarth, the Liberal Democrat justice spokesman, added: "The
Government shouldn't try to sneak through further building blocks of its
surveillance state. Unrestricted data-sharing simply increases the risks
of data loss. This is particularly troubling since the Government has
already shown itself entirely incapable of keeping our personal data
safe."
The data-sharing measure is referred to in the Coroners and Justice Bill
outlined in yesterday's Queen's Speech. It could, for instance, pave the
way for medical records to be sent to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing
Agency to identify drivers who pose a health risk, or school attendance
data being handed to the Department for Work and Pensions to verify
social security claims made by parents.
But civil rights groups warned that the possibility of public records
being transferred to private companies on a minister's whim was of even
greater concern. Under the existing system, public bodies require
primary legislation to authorise the transfer of data to another agency.
The new plans would end such parliamentary scrutiny by permitting
ministers to use secondary legislation without a full vote of MPs. The
Bill sets out how ministers would be able to sidestep data protection
and human rights laws that prevent public bodies revealing private
information.
NO2ID, a group which campaigned against government plans for ID cards
and the associated National Identity Register, said the proposals went
far beyond data protection and were intended "to build the database
state, concealed under a misleading name". The group's national co-
ordinator, Phil Booth, said: "This is a Bill to smash the rule of law
and build the database state in its place. Burying sweeping
constitutional change in obscure Bills is an appalling approach. Having
proved – and admitted – they cannot be trusted to look after our
secrets, they are still determined to steal what privacy we have left.
Parliament needs to wake up before it has no say any more."
Civil liberties groups said the new powers could be used in conjunction
with the equally controversial plan for a giant database holding details
of people's emails, telephone calls and internet searches. The
Communications Data Bill, which would contain this information, was set
for inclusion in yesterday's Queen's Speech but will now be part of a
consultation paper to be published in January.
Mr Hammarberg said Britain's poor record on data loss had led to an EU-
wide debate about the dangers of a surveillance society. He added: "Data
protection is crucial to the upholding of fundamental democratic values:
a surveillance society risks infringing this basic right."
The Ministry of Justice said data-sharing was essential for the delivery
of "efficient and effective public services, tackling crime and
protecting the public". "Any draft order would require parliamentary
approval and a privacy impact assessment," said a spokesman.
"Additionally, the Information Commissioner would have been invited to
comment on the proposals. This will ensure any potential privacy issues
and risks are identified and examined.
"The power will be exercised only in circumstances where the sharing of
the information is in the public interest and proportionate to the
impact on any person adversely affected by it."
http://www.independ
ndash-by-stealth-
--
Thursday, 4 December 2008
Posts
