Security experts criticise government database plans
Tom Espiner writes on the ZDNet web site:
The Home Office announced in December that the National Identity Register — the planned database behind the controversial ID cards scheme — would comprise three existing databases. The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) and the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) databases would be combined to store people’s biometric and biographic information. This plan, which negates the need to build a single new database, has sparked alarm in the security space.
The second government initiative worrying security experts is this week’s proposals to relax data-sharing laws that govern how civil servants access and share citizens’ personal data. At present, the privacy rights of the UK public are protected by the Data Protection Act. But, according to a Number 10 policy review published on Monday, “overzealous data-sharing rules may be an obstacle to improving public services”. Relaxing these rules could help create a super-database, where public workers had greater access to the personal details of the public.
Security vendors see problems common to both initiatives. Principal among them are the increased opportunities for data theft, if more civil servants are accessing more data.
