08 Oct 2008

Total information awarenes does not work

Look - a new report says total information awareness doesn’t work (says ZDNet says the NY Times says all of us).

After years of the federal government grabbing all the data it could find, building huge collections through which to data-mine for connections that would yield leads to terrorism suspects, a 352-page study released on Tuesday by a committee of the National Research Council warned that such goals “will be extremely difficult to achieve” because of legal, technological and logistical problems, The New York Times reports.

There is little evidence to confirm that the techniques work to actually find terrorists, despite the growing use in the last seven years, committee members said. Part of the problem, they said, is that the sample of known terrorists and actual attacks is so small that it is difficult to establish patterns of suspicious behavior.

What has NSA and DHS found through all this data? False positives and ruined lives.

“More data does not mean better data,” said William J. Perry, a former defense secretary and co-chairman of the panel.

This could have serious implications for Sir Bonar’s “rings of Saturn/astral soup” theory of global data sharing.

 

07 Oct 2008

The credit crunch and the car-park cameras

Sir Bonar writes

Since I’ve been asked this month to address a couple of issues in our staff newsletter Saturn I thought I might share my answers with the readers of Ideal Government. You might find it in some small way instructive of what goes on inside the Whitehall machine.

First we had a question about the global credit crunch and how it would affect our futures.

The credit crunch is a financial and economic squeeze that is bringing a number of previously high-flying City institutions to their knees. As a consequence of that there is likely to be a deep and prolonged recession in th private sector part of the so-called real economy.

On the whole, I’m able to reassure Saturn readers, this is not something we in the public sector need to worry about. Our salaries and pensions are secure. We have not gambled them on financial derivative instruments; they will simply continue to be paid out of tax. These City highfliers have been driven by the rule of Mammon, and will suffer accordingly. While regrettable, this is no great concern to us. In fact, the wider public and the news media may feel it less appropriate to “bash” the public sector in future now that we in Whitehall are having to use our money to bail everyone else out.

The other question concerned what happens to data derived from the new numberplate cameras installed in the office car parks and eye scanners in reception areas in Milton Keynes. This is fascinating.

What happens is this. As the car enters our premises our service providers Euroserv captures the registration data and transmits a copy to its headquarters in Utah. They then apply to DVLA for release under the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 2002 of the full details of the registered keeper (DVLA is required by law to provide information about the vehicle keeper to anyone that has demonstrated reasonable cause to receive that information). This is then cross-checked with their customer history and credit rating from Experian and Axciom to both of whose services we subscribe.

As the suspect enters our reception area we then capture their iris and cross check that against staff records, no-fly lists from our friends in the US and the register of known sex offenders. If there is no cause for suspicion the data is merely submitted to the personnel department to be marked on attendance records, copied to my own “ring of soup” and then retained for stastical and other routine administrative purposes permitted by law.

If there is a match, however, we can disable the doors, IT systems and vending machines, thus disruping their visit and interdicting any undesirable activity. This can be done without arresting them, or indeed even telling them and arousing any suspicion.

This brings many benefits. If someone innocently leaves their sidelights on, for example, we are quickly able to trace them through their mobile phone serivce provider and send them a text message. In one recent case this text message was hand-delivered using mobile phone location data.

Equaly, it is clearly vital if we are to continue with popular activities such as “bring your daughter to work day”, that the appropriate authotirites should be entirely satisfied than there are no known sex offenders at loose on our premises (or at the very least that if there are, they’re not able to avail themselves of our bottled water or our library services).

That’s why we’re trialling the car park and foyer cameras at 17 of our officess around the country. Response had been remarkably good, with 34% of staff saying they feel more secure as a result of the new system, and 42% saying they woud be happy to bring their child to work.

So there we are. I hope these examples give some flavour of day-to-day life here.

 

Edinburgh Scots show the way to Whitehall Scots

I think we have to face up to the fact that the Scots who run SNP-led Scotland (for all its unsettling anti-union words and evident anti-English bias) is opening up a clear privacy lead over the Scots who run the Labour-led United Kingdom. Consider:

- the establishment of the privacy experts group

- stronger data-security rules for the NHS in Scotland (from Kablenet)

Now a Scottish friend sends me his confirmation of voter details. Along with name, nationality and opt-out status it confirms

Date of birth: Over 18

Now, pedants might argue that “over 18” is a poor answer to the question what is your date of birth. But it’s the first obvious instance I can recall of a public database restricing the information given to that which is strictly necessary for the transaction in hand. It’s a very small but healthy sign…

 

06 Oct 2008

“The trouble with data” - SA Mathieson

There’s a terrific article by SA Mathieson in Government Computing in response to the earlier piece by Matthew Taylor about government use of data.

He points to limitations and unexpected side-effects of government driven by data. He argues that it ignores the human costs in something like abolishing the common travel area with Ireland, or of endemic workplace surveillance, and adds the dangers of new forms of discrimination eg against those unable to provide biometrics, or whose data is inaccurate.

These are all fair, balanced points from someone who has been accurately been covering these stories for years now. Whaddyer’all think? Say it ain’t so, Joe (wink). Full text below. 

 

05 Oct 2008

The insolent IMP and the world’s strictest parents

The story of the insolent “Intercept Modernisation Programme” breaks in the Sunday Times today

Ministers are considering spending up to £12 billion on a database to monitor and store the internet browsing habits, e-mail and telephone records of everyone in Britain. GCHQ, the government’s eavesdropping centre, has already been given up to £1 billion to finance the first stage of the project. Hundreds of clandestine probes will be installed to monitor customers live on two of the country’s biggest internet and mobile phone providers - thought to be BT and Vodafone. BT has nearly 5m internet customers.

It covers pretty much what I’ve heard over the last 15 months, except for the angle that an under-pressure SOCA is pushing hard for this in the teeth of opposition from Acpo and the Police Superintendents Assn.

Intercept Modernisation has a possibly instructive echo with last night’s “World’s Srtictest Parents”, an Alabama couple who searched their guests’ luggage, mobile phones and iPods to howls of outrage from the initially delinquent teenage British visitors. What emerged, once again in this remarkable TV series, was a relationship loving care, trust and respect. Again the catalyst for change was putting the self-centred and obnoxious young people to work for the truly needy, in this case homeless people in a rough part of town.

So, inthe Intercept Modernisation case: who needs to change? Are the British population unruly, insolent vacuous teenagers who need to be snooped on by a loving GCHQ? Or does government need to learn to invest in public services according to the needs of people who suffer instead of spending taxpayers money in a vain attempt to ease their fear of losing control?

 

04 Oct 2008

Always look on the bright side

HEY maybe there are worse places than the UK...?

Let’s consider Turkey, whose attributes of course include beautiful Azure seas, fabulous foods, wonderfully welcoming people, amazing artistry…

...but also surely the most expensive airport in the world at Dalaman (where one can of coke costs 8 Turkish Lira which is approximately £4!), and where in order to purchase something from airport duty free you have to present your passport (as opposed to the more usual request to see your boarding card). The person at the till swipes your passport codes into their electronic device, but there’s no-one to explain why, or for how long your data will be held, or with whom it might be shared. My (un-data privacy or IT-savvy) friend who purchased some cigarettes for a work colleague started to wonder what might happen to this data - was the record of the specific transaction linked to her passport? could that have an effect on her purchasing health insurance in the future? Turkey’s record on human rights wasn’t lost on us either....

What do you experts advise in such circumstances? Should we have denied ourselves those last minute purchases of apple tea and Marlboro lights?

[BTW I think the WIBBI on the coke is obvious...]

 

Frredom not Fear pic by stephenjjohnson

This stephenjohnson pic submitted to the Freedom not Fear collection is yet another reminder that some people are cracking photographers while yours truly has a lot to learn:

Of course, soon the cameras will be so small (like the one on my own McBook) that you want be able to see them anyway…

 

02 Oct 2008

It’s not all Kafka. Don’t forget:

...yeah. And it’s far from Ideal.

 

01 Oct 2008

Phorm remains far from Ideal

The emergence of sinister new web tracking and advertising services of dubious legality makes the following statement necessary:

www.idealgovernment.com: notice

The contents of this site, and communications between this site and its users, are protected by database right, copyright, confidentiality and the right not to be intercepted conferred by section 1(3) of the UK Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.  The use of those contents and communications by Internet Service Providers or others to profile or classify users of this site for advertising or other purposes is strictly forbidden.

This is to ensure as best we can that our dear readers in IPS and elsewhere do not have their IdealGov traffic intercepted by ISPs such a BT, Virgin or TalkTalk who may be using the Phorm service. See ORG for more info.

 

30 Sep 2008

Intellect is not a satirical construct - official

Sir Bonar writes

In my role as technology outreach Czar I’ve had a number of enquiries directed to my private office asking me whether the trade association Intellect actually exists or not. Several callers suggested it is in reality no more than an empty office with a coffee machine around which IT executives gather. One caller even dared to ask me whether Intellect was merely a satirical construct.

My instant response is to say that I’ve never heard anything so absurd in all my life. How on earth do people think government is able to devise, analyse, risk manage, procure and implement some of the largest IT systems in the world without being able to consult a cross-sectiom of the world’s leading IT suppliers behind closed doors? The very notion betrays a naivety about how government really works that I find breathtaking.

But we must be patient and courteous at all times, even with those who appear wilfully ill-informed.

So yes, I’m happy to confirm that the trade asociation Intellect does really exist, and does precisely what it purports to do. The success of our Transformational e-Government 1.0 Programme provides ample testament to this, as if any were needed. Anyone choosing to visit their offices will find a warm welcome and - indeed - an admirable coffee machine. But, as the quality of our technical professionalism and our Customer Insight demonstrates, they will also find a great deal more besides.

 

Charles Clarke doesn’t seem to get it

Computer Weekly picked up some comments at the Labour conference

Former home secretary Charles Clarke said Labour has experienced “all kinds of problems” since coming into power in 1997. “The potential of IT, whether it is individual records in the NHS or ID cards, is enormous understanding it and how to procure it is very difficult,” he said. “I would say, to the credit of the government, that it has tried to see the potential of IT, and tried to use it. But in so doing, it has run into all kinds of problems. What is needed is a stronger partnership between the IT industry and government, and I do think it is changing now.”

Noooooooooo! No! No! I mean, of course government has had problems and indeed it needs to work well with its IT suppliers. But it’s not just the mechanics of procurement; it’s the underlying intention.

This isnt fixed by more talks with Intellect. You need to talk to NGOs and civil society.

The whole “groupthink"-based problem of wrongly-intentioned computerisation of government (including childrens databases and mass data retention as well as the ID scheme and centralised health records he mentions comes from the fallacy that if you put government, Intellect and IT industry lobbyists in a room they’ll come up with something Ideal. History shows that what they come up with is far from Ideal. eGovernment 1.0 fails to take into account the creative participation of people at large. It fails to build on a proper foundation of trust, and it ignores the quick wins that the contempory internet offers for free.

It fails to recognise, as Tom Steinberg and Ed Mayo put it rather better, the Power of Information.

Charles Clarke should be required by statutory instrument to study Tom Watson’s recent work, including the Showusabetterway competition. He should be exposed, using special administrative measures to the Eclectech notional Identity video morning and evening until he gets it. 

The way to cure the problem (as the Design Council, thinkpublic, Kable research and Kable’s ThePublicOffice project all showed) is to get close to the people these systems are supposed to help, and let them help you get it right. The tools and techniques are there. It’s easy and it’s fun. Let those most in need of the outcomes help specify the problem, design, choose, and monitor the system and provide untainted, unspun feedback. Care about the customer. Get over your authoritarian, centralising, mind-guarded assertions that you know best. 

 

29 Sep 2008

Freedom not fear: here’s what you can do to help…

See the Open Rights Group’s guide to what you can do to help promote Freedom not Fear.

Happy-snappers unite! We need as many people as possible to take photos of stuff that embodies the database state, and the UK’s world-famous surveillance society (wake up! You’ve just walked into it).

On 11 October, No2ID and the Open Rights Group will make a live collage of the images you’ve taken in a prominent location in London (to be confirmed), to celebrate Freedom Not Fear Day 2008.

 

Opposition is such a healthy place to be…

Terri points out an article in the Telegraph

Conservatives would scrap controversial ContactPoint child database

A flagship database of every child living in England, which is due to be launched by the government next year, will be shutdown by a Conservative government.

By Andrew Pierce
Last Updated: 6:06PM BST 28 Sep 2008

The £224 million ContactPoint database, which has been delayed twice because of security issues, will include the names, ages and addresses of all 11 million under 18s and detailed information on their parents, GPs, and schools.

The Conservatives fear that the database, which will be accessed by 330,000 people working in education, health, social care, youth justice, and the voluntary sector will be exploited by paedophiles. They also believe that there is a real danger of sensitive data being mislaid or lost.

The Tories are also deeply unhappy that the private firm which lost the details of the entire prison population is being allowed to work on the controversial project.

Hurrah. This is a non-partisan blog, but it is instructive what happens whan a political party speands a few years having to listen, and to work out what people want. It’s a big step forward from the people who introduced the CSA.

 

27 Sep 2008

RAF records: some soothing words from Sir Bonar

Sir Bonar writes

I’ve been asked to share a few words about the reported theft of 900,000 records of past and p1resent RAF service personnel, often with bank account details.

First I should make it plain we take this incident very seriously. We have some of the most stringent physical and logical security procedures to protect such data, and everyone can rest assured that such an episode can never be repeated.

Nevertheless we have set up an internal enquiry with immediate effect, and I’d be very surprised indeed if a number of junior staff were not disciplined.

We should put this in perspective. This is an isolated incident. There is no reason to suppose that the thief has any idea of the value of this data on the black market. In any event, most of these staff have certainly had their details lost already. This will be true if they have children, have taken driving tests recently, are also members of Al Quaeda or the Iraqi security services, have been in prison or use local GP services. All of this data has already been lost or transmitted to the “toxic soup” pool of shared data, as it were.

Under these circumstances it will be some comfort for the future for those affected to know that now that their details are lost and in the hands of the criminal fraternity, they have nothing further to fear from future episodes of data loss. They cannot be any more lost than they are already.

Of course, as we have argued elsewhere, those with nothing to hide will have nothing to fear from their details being shared. Indeed we should share more information about our service personnel who are, quite simply, the best and most professional in the world (as their leaked service records will no doubt confirm).

I hope this allays any concerns people may have about this perfectly quotidien episode. We have set up a helpline on Freefone 0800 085 3600 should any those affected wish to sit in an endless call-centre loop.

 

26 Sep 2008

ID guidance cock-up spam

Someone called “Strategic Relationships Team” emails me at my old email address (the one, come to think of it, where Ho Moffiss has just emailed me to confirm I had opted not to receive emails from Ho Moffiss) to say:

I attach an updated version of the Level 1 Guidance which replaces the version sent on 25th September. This is now version 1.2. The guidance has been updated to reflect the fact that it is not mandatory for foreign nationals to show their card when they apply for social security benefits. It will of course be helpful for individuals wanting to establish identity and entitlement in a simple and secure way.

So what will version 1.3 guidance, due out tomorrow, look like? Perhaps it wil clarify more generally that even though these cards servce no useful function and should be snipped up and made into paperweights they do provide a simple way to remind people who they are, should they find they need to do so.

Meanwhile these “residence permit” cards have the same effect as the absurd driving licence cards which are no use at all without the paper counterpart. You guesed it: since the ID card is not a travel document now foreign nationals have to go abroad with both passport and obnoxious ID card. Two things to lose or get stolen. Such is progress.

“Strategic Relationships Team” adds:

If you have any questions please send them to the UK Border Agency Identity Management Team at identitymanagement@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk.

I’m still awaiting a reply from my last email last month, so don’t hold your breath.

Wibbi public servants behaved in a way that reassured me that - as global capitalism and the world economy collapses round our ears - our taxes were being spent that reflected our wishes and priorities, and our desire to be treated with dignity and respect.

 
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