DATA BONANZA SPELLS END OF PRIVACY

I have been fighting the extension of data sharing among public bodies in Dorset for a number of months, challenging the county-wide Information Sharing Protocol at West Dorset District Council & in the media.

I won a concession at West Dorset that the Scrutiny Committee would revisit the appropriateness of the legislation next year in relation to the promised Communications Data Bill which will allow the collection & storage of all phone calls, emails & internet activity in the UK.

Now Sir David Omand, former Whitehall intelligence & security co-ordinator & author of a report by the Institute of Public Policy Research on the national security strategy – the database of advanced passenger information, airline bookings, passport data, immigration, identity & border records, criminal records, financial, telephone & other communication records - suggests that once an individual is assigned a unique index number, it is possible to retrieve & access data across numerous databases & thereby obtain information about that person’s life that was not authorised in the original valid consent for data collection.

He has recommended the establishment of clear human rights guidelines, such as sufficient sustainable cause, integrity of motive, methodology proportionate to the seriousness of the business & use of data collection as a last resort. I would entirely support the establishment of these guidelines in law so that challenges to privacy invasion can be brought effectively. I would also like to see built in to the legislation a review focusing on whether the number of successful prosecutions made as a result of the database has increased compared to the number before its inception. This needs to be conducted by an independent agency – likewise a survey of the increase in the number of complaints made as a result of the data storage. Only then can we monitor whether the level of risk has been worth it.