Can’t run? Protect your privacy
I should be on a run right now. Unfortunately I did something to my ankle this week. The painful throbbing feeling I received when attempting to run told me to stop … so instead the world gets another blog post.
So instead you get to find out that there is a serious threat to privacy in the UK.
A few excerpts:
Hidden in the new Coroners and Justice Bill is one clause (cl.152) amending the Data Protection Act. It would allow ministers to make ‘Information Sharing Orders’, that can alter any Act of Parliament and cancel all rules of confidentiality in order to use information obtained for one purpose to be used for another.
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You can see the text on page 100 of this document. It’s a little frightening — personal data can be made public on the whim of any minister, so long as it involves their ministry and a policy objective.
This is coinciding with the National Identity Register, which claims that information held in this database will be strictly limited. This will not be true if the above passes. It is also occurring in the midst of a program to put everybody’s health information into a giant database.
The amendments are scheduled for debate tomorrow (Mon Jan 26), so it’s not too late to contact your MP and make your voice heard. You can find them here.
(PS — If you’re in Toronto, stop reading this now. You are missing Cupcake Camp)
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