Archives: March, 2009
WRITTEN ON Monday, March 23rd, 2009 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Data nitwittery, Foundation of Trust, We told you so..., What do we want?
Further evidence that the public sector employs its fair share of crooks and nitwits: A POLICEWOMAN has been charged with illegally accessing personal data using the cops’ own information system. Anna Wong, 26, faces 54 charges in breach of the Data Protection Act and has been suspended from duty by Lothian and Borders Police. It [...]
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WRITTEN ON Monday, March 23rd, 2009 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Data nitwittery, Foundation of Trust, Political engagement, Save Time and Money, Transformational Government, What do we want?
So, did the government receive JRRT’s Database State report in a tender and creative spirit? Did they for one moment consider their Transformation Government plans might be mistaken? Not really. To judge by the initial reaction from Michael Wills on the BBC Radio Four Today programme they seem to prefer counter-attack us, rather than stop [...]
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WRITTEN ON Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Data nitwittery, Foundation of Trust, Transformational Government, What do we want?
JRRT today publishes the Database State report written by five FIPR authors: Ross, Ian, Terri, Philip, Angela and me (helped by many others). See BBC News item here.. See growing Google list of news links here. As JRRT’s PR puts it (full text below) The first ever comprehensive map of Britain’s database state today reveals [...]
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WRITTEN ON Saturday, March 21st, 2009 BY Ruth Kennedy AND STORED IN Data nitwittery, Foundation of Trust, What do we want?
Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell yesterday had to admit to yet another isolated incident….
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WRITTEN ON Saturday, March 21st, 2009 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Data nitwittery, Foundation of Trust, What do we want?
Terri at ARCH spots this piece in the Yorkshire Post TWO major security glitches in a Government database of 11 million English children have raised fears that the most vulnerable are being put at risk. A third of England’s 150 local authorities did not sign off on the first phase of ContactPoint scheme by the [...]
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WRITTEN ON Thursday, March 19th, 2009 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Data nitwittery, Foundation of Trust, What do we want?
Another immensely sane ruling from a German court, this time the Verwaltungsgericht in Wiesbaden: As the first German court, the Administrative Court of Wiesbaden has found the blanket recording of the entire population’s telephone, mobile phone, e-mail and Internet usage (known as data retention) disproportionate. The decision published today by the Working Group on Data [...]
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WRITTEN ON Thursday, March 19th, 2009 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Foundation of Trust, What do we want?
Ruthie advises me that the best among many excellent talks at the convention on modern liberty (which I missed because I was in India) was Philip Pullman’s. The state, he says, needs courage, intellectual curiosity, virtue, modesty and honour: A nation whose laws express fear and suspicion cannot sustain delight for very long; joy does [...]
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WRITTEN ON Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 BY David Moss AND STORED IN Uncategorized
He’s a hard taskmaster, that Wlliam Heath. Makes you read things. And think about them. Beast. Just look at this: At least the rapierist Sir David, whose hand lies behind we know not how much of this, has come out into the open about it. No alternative, had to read Sir David Omand GCB’s discussion [...]
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WRITTEN ON Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Foundation of Trust, What do we want?
Very hard, it seems, if you’re trapped in control-phreakist groupthink-space. As The Register (Britain’s contribution to the “comedians do news better than analysts” meme) puts it Industry ponders fate of Wacky Jacqui’s überdatabase Has anyone seen my IMP? By Chris Williams Home Office officials will today meet industry respresentatives to discuss delays to a consultation [...]
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WRITTEN ON Sunday, March 8th, 2009 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Data nitwittery, Foundation of Trust, Identity, Transformational Government, What do we want?
The “toxic soup for all” clause 152 is to be dropped it seems (Telegraph): Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, is to shelve proposals which critics said would have led to patients’ confidential medical records being passed to third parties. A spokesman for Mr Straw said the “strength of feeling” against the plans had persuaded him [...]
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