2 November 2008
The Prime Minister has admitted - following yet another data breach [1] - that the government cannot promise to keep people's personal information safe [2]. Privacy campaign NO2ID [3] demands a halt to the mass collection and trafficking of personal data by the government, as the only cure.
NO2ID named the National Identity Scheme ('ID cards'), ContactPoint (the database of every child and their family's details), the NHS Care Records System (centralised medical records) and the proposed Communications Data (phone and internet records) database as the four most dangerous database state initiatives that simply cannot be allowed to proceed.
Phil Booth, NO2ID national coordinator said:
"Blaming human error is a cop out. It is the fundamentally flawed policy of gathering and trafficking masses of personal information within and across departments and agencies that makes these losses inevitable.
"When is the government going to wake up and take some responsibility? You can't protect it. So don't collect it."
-ENDS-
Notes for editors:
1) NO2ID is the UK-wide non-partisan campaign against ID cards and the database state. See http://www.no2id.net/dbstate.php for a list of 'database state' initiatives that NO2ID is actively opposing.
2) http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1082402/Tax-website-shut-memory-stick-secret-personal-data-12million-pub-car-park.html - Mail on Sunday, 2/11/08
3) 'Gordon Brown says government cannot ensure data safety', Sunday Times, 2/11/08 - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5065795.ece
The NO2ID Campaign
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