WRITTEN ON January 16th, 2009 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Data nitwittery, Foundation of Trust, What do we want?

And the data nitwittery continues apace, with new rules to allow the abuse of our data on an industrial scale:(from Guardian)

Controversial fast-track powers to remove the barriers to the widespread bulk sharing of personal data across Whitehall departments and throughout the public sector were unveiled yesterday by the justice secretary, Jack Straw.

The powers in the coroners and justice bill will reverse the fundamental data protection principle that information provided to one government agency for one purpose should not normally be used by another for a different purpose.

Straw insisted that the powers would come with “very strict controls” on who will get access to personal data and what it can be used for, but the Liberal Democrat and Conservative parties warned that the bill represented “yet another building block of the surveillance state”…Ministers say present barriers to data-sharing mean that departments have to put through primary legislation simply to allow winter fuel payments to be made to needy pensioners because it involves two departments.

But Shami Chakrabarti of Liberty said the government’s “nod towards public concerns” did not go far enough. She added: “This allows serious intrusion to be dealt with by secondary legislation which spews out of this government like confetti. This is no way to rebuild trust in personal privacy in Britain.”

But…..but…..but the fact that public services are a bit rubbish is no excuse for offending our dignity and invading our privacy. We want to be treated with respect, equality and dignity. We want good services. And less tax. Simple really. Why do they make such heavy weather of it?

Further point is that Jack Straw would not be so full of praise for his designated appointee as Information Commissioner if he thought Chris Graham was going to throw a spanner in the works of all the eckstatic data nitwittery plans. This must have played a role in the selection process. Otherwise we’d have got someone with an existing reputation and unbridled and naked passion for data protection. There are plenty about, we know them well, and love them all. Straw must be hoping he’s found another Lord Hutton.