Lords’ privacy warning
Date: 13 February 2009
Issue: Vol 159, Issue 7356
Categories: News, Other practice areas, Freedom of Information
The DNA database could be used for “malign” purposes and the rise in surveillance and data collection threatens individual freedom, Peers have warned.
In a report published last week, “Surveillance: Citizens and the State”, the House of Lords Constitution Committee sets out 44 widesweeping recommendations to protect individuals from the “pervasive and routine” electronic surveillance and collection and processing of personal information.
These include judicial oversight for surveillance carried out by public authorities, requiring government departments to produce an independent and publicly available privacy impact assessment before introducing any new data collection scheme, and allowing the information commissioner to inspect private as well as public sector organisations.
The committee highlights the fact the UK is thought to lead the world in CCTV usage, and has the largest DNA database in the world proportionate to population.
Lord Goodlad, chairman of the committee, says: “There can be no justification for this gradual but incessant creep towards every detail about us being recorded and pored over by the state.
The committee was concerned about local authorities’ inappropriate use of RIPA powers to spy on the public over issues such as littering and to check residential status over school applications, a clear misuse of power.”
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