Big Brother

Today’s Independent has a quite horrific story on its front page about government plans to allow departments and agencies to share information on UK citizens. It starts:

‘Personal information detailing intimate aspects of the lives of every British citizen is to be handed over to government agencies under sweeping new powers. The measure, which will give ministers the right to allow all public bodies to exchange sensitive data with each other, is expected to be rushed through Parliament in a Bill to be published tomorrow.’

Given the government’s appalling record of keeping personal data safe this should be a cause of concern to us all. Further, the article suggests that some way down the line the government could plan to sell off the information to private companies without the need for Parliament’s approval. Lots of material here as part of consideration of whether Britain is a true democracy.

There’s also a good example of pressure groups, since No2ID are mentioned in the article as well.