How Gov aimed to exploit personal data trade 1


Mark Ballard writes on the Computer Weekly web site:

The £3bn trade in tip-offs about people caught in car accidents has exposed the seedy side of the personal data market. Seedier still are draft government plans to cash in on this bonanza when it ought to be sticking to the Tory manifesto promise to give people a right to call the shots over their own personal data.

Plans to replace Labour’s ID scheme with a private sector system of identity assurance, which Computer Weekly revealed Cabinet Office had floated to industry in April, have led inevitably to a proposal for the private sector to become more active as custodians of people’s personal data as well. This is already happening to a large extent but, much to people’s dismay, the private sector seems less interested in being custodian than exploiter.

He concludes:

The government needs to act quickly to carry its pre-election promises on civil liberties to their logical conclusion. That does not mean making a song and dance about dismantling Labour’s ID scheme only to throw everyone’s identities to the dogs in the private sector. That means ensuring people have the means to control their own personal data, wherever and however it is held.


One thought on “How Gov aimed to exploit personal data trade

  • Tom Welsh

    “a proposal for the private sector to become more active as custodians of people’s personal data as well”.

    Custodian, what big teeth you have!

Comments are closed.