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Firm Sold Workers’ Confidential Data

A Worcestershire firm has been shut down by the Information Commission after investigations revealed they sold workers’ confidential data to over 40 firms.
The data, including workers’ political affiliations, trade union activities and employment history, was mostly bought by construction companies such as Taylor Woodrow, Laing O’Rourke and Balfour Beatty, according to BBC News.
This shocking revelation [...]

Assessments of child database to remain secret

The assessments of the controversial ContactPoint database at the “early adopter” local authorities will remain secret, it has been revealed.
In a written Parliamentary answer, the children’s minister Beverley Hughes said ContactPoint assessments are internal documents and not intended for publication.
“The monthly assessments are undertaken by local authorities and are project documents internal to the local [...]

Prisoners’ medical details lost

It seems not a week goes past now without another example of public sector officials misplacing our private data. The latest dose of stupidity comes from a NHS Trust staff member in Lancashire. The health worker lost a memory stick being used to backup 6,000 records from clinical databases at HMP Preston.
The memory stick was [...]

Be careful who you email…

…it may just land you with a visit from Plod.
 
The BBC’s Five Live Breakfast sparked a flurry of anti-surveillance texts this morning following their story on internet companies being forced to keep records of our emails.
 
From March, new legislation will force ISPs to keep information about every e-mail sent or received in the UK for one year. [...]

Can the database state be hacked?

A database developer sacked for lying on his CV hacked into systems to spy on his former colleagues and delete emails.
Julius Oladiran, 46, was dismissed from after his employers discovered his boasts of a master’s degree, and top Government jobs were all lies.
Desperate to know what people were saying about him, the conman installed spyware on [...]

Is Government planning to sell our data?

This blog post now featured on openDemocracy
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On 29 January the EEMA (European Association for e-identity and Security) and the Digital Identity Forum are holding a seminar entitled “The Business Use and Applications of the UK National Identity Card”
Have a read of this from their website:
Over a period of time, public opinion, as measured by opinion [...]

Government data integrity called into question

From The Register:
Almost one in ten records within HMRC’s framework database contain errors, according to figures unveiled by Conservative MP Justine Greening.
The frameworks database only contains quite simple information - first, second and surname, title, sex, data of birth, address and National Insurance number. Which begs the question of how many errors more complicated government records [...]

London Council encourages parents to shield children

Following yesterday’s post on the child surveillance tool ContactPoint, comes the news that a London borough are to encourage parents to keep their children’s details secret.
If the communications initiative by the Borough of Kensington and Chelsea catches on, the Government will come under serious pressure to abandon the costly and controversial database.
Merrick Cockell, the leader [...]

A Happy New Year for your children?

As “Auld Lang Syne” rings out around the world, stop for a moment to take a look at what horrors are in store over the next 12 months.
We have the ludicrously expensive ID card monster crawling into action. The National Identity Register, the backbone for the cards. The DNA database, soundly slammed by Europe. The [...]

Private sector to spy on calls and emails

According to today’s Guardian, the private sector will be asked to manage and run a communications database that will keep track of everyone’s calls, emails, texts and internet use. This latest step towards a full surveillance state will be revealed in a consultation paper to be published next month by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.
The article hints [...]