Here’s proof. The innocent do have something to fear
Simon Jenkins writes in The Guardian:
ID cards and NHS computers promise to store the defining details and medical records of the entire population. As data sharing spreads, these records will be virtually open to public view. In 2000, just nine organisations were allowed warrants to access secure government records: the figure is now almost 800. For a small fee, anyone will be able to learn anything about anyone else. It may be illegal, but like computer downloads it will happen.
This means every patient’s medical history will become available to insurance firms, rendering some uninsurable. Court and criminal records will end the privacy of a spent conviction and make many, including those who have committed no crime, unemployable for being on a police data system. It was reported last week that terrorism laws are more used for local government and crowd control than national security.
As she battles to extend detention without trial, traveller surveillance and electronic databases, Smith will incant the presence of safeguards. Like most ministers and Whitehall officials, she is putty in the hands of high-pressure computer salesmen. She believes what they say, against all the evidence of the liberty lobby and computer failure. Perhaps she now knows better.
