11 July 2008
Expressing profound disappointment at the far-from-radical recommendations of the Data Sharing Review [1] by the Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, and Director of the Wellcome Trust, Dr Mark Walport, NO2ID's National Coordinator, Phil Booth, said:
"The Review all but ignores the database state yet strangely [2] aims to bolster the powers of the Information Commissioner's Office and seeks to make life more convenient for medical researchers.
"This hasn't really done anything to protect ordinary individuals, and leaves the door wide open for your personal information to be further debauched by government."
"All the spin is about a minor change to the electoral register - their 'big change' is to cut down junk mail, but what about the very real dangers of the National Identity Register [3], ContactPoint [4] and the NHS Secondary Uses Service [5]?"
-ENDS-
Notes for editors:
1) http://www.justice.gov.uk/reviews/datasharing-intro.htm - full report available for download from this location at noon.
2) We refer you again to the authors of the report...
3) The linked databases at the heart of the National Identity Scheme ('ID cards'). Fifty *categories* - not items - of information on everyone over the age of 16, including fingerprints and a detailed log of every ID check that will record, e.g. bank details, your GP or clinic visits, and provide convenient links to other sensitive personal information.
4) A database of details on every child in the country and their parents or carers, to be accessible to over 300,000 people working in social services. The government's own auditors have stated that ContactPoint could never be made fully secure.
5) Medical information shared via a BT-run service, Although supposedly anonymised, medical information is currently being shared across Primary Care Trusts - and in some cases with commercial companies - 'in the open', i.e. in personally identifiable form.
6) 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.
For further information, or for immediate or future interview, please contact
Phil Booth (National Co-ordinator, national.coordinator@no2id.net)on 07974 230 839,
Guy Herbert (General Secretary, general.secretary@no2id.net) on 07956 544 308, or
Michael Parker (Press Officer, press.officer@no2id.net) on 07773 376 166.
The NO2ID Campaign
Box 412
19-21 Crawford Street
London W1H 1PJ
enquiries@no2id.net
Tel: 07005 800 651
Press: click here
