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Emma Carr | Big Brother Watch

First NHS organisation fined for breach of Data Protection Act

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Emma Carr Posted in Home | Leave a comment

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has announced that a Welsh health board has become the first NHS organisation to be fined following a serious breach of the Data Protection Act.  The Aneurin Bevan Health Board has been fined £70,000 after a sensitive report that contained details relating to a patient’s health was sent to the wrong person. The ICO said that the error occurred when a consultant emailed a letter to a secretary for formatting, but failed to include enough … →

Press Comment: Passenger Name Records

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Emma Carr Posted in Press Office | Leave a comment

Nick Pickles, director of Big Brother Watch, said : “Yet again the privacy and civil liberties of British and European citizens have been sold out for fear of upsetting the Americans. “This policy involves handing over our credit card numbers, details on our sex lives, ethnicity and political views, without legal process. Governments are betraying their citizens because a paranoid security complex is running rampant across policy. “Who is to say that all the extra data the Home Office wants … →

Big Brother will be watching you

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Emma Carr Posted in Civil Liberties, Home, Internet freedom, Online privacy, Surveillance | 13 Comments

In an unprecedented step that will see Britain adopt the same kind of surveillance as China and Iran, police and intelligence officers are to be handed powers to monitor people’s messages online.  The plans have been described as an “attack on the privacy” of a vast number of Britons by the Independent and have attracted little support from backbench MP’s. The Home Secretary, Theresa May, announced the governments intention to introduce legislation in next month’s Queen’s Speech which would allow … →

Caught on camera: the Olympic legacy

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Emma Carr Posted in Body Scanners, CCTV, Civil Liberties, Olympics, Police, Surveillance | 8 Comments

The Guardian has today reported on growing concerns over the effects that the 2012 Olympic Games security strategy will have on the UK.  Londoners have long anticipated a summer of visible, increased security – but what assurances are being made that the security will disappear when the athletes go home? Scanners, biometric ID cards, number-plate and facial-recognition CCTV systems, disease tracking systems, new police control centres and checkpoints have all been planned as part of the Olympic security strategy.  In … →

“Clare’s Law” must not bypass the legal system

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Emma Carr Posted in Home | 4 Comments

The Home Office is expected to imminently announce pilot schemes of the so-called “Clare’s Law” that will give women the right to ask police about their partner’s violent history.  The pilot comes after a campaign for a change in the law to help protect women from domestic abuse by Michael Brown, the father of domestic violence and murder victim Clare Wood.  Clare had met her partner over Facebook and was unaware of his violent history against women, including harassment, threats … →

Apps can access your texts and calls

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Emma Carr Posted in Home, Mobile Phones, Online privacy, Privacy, Social Networking | 4 Comments

As reported in The Sunday Times this weekend, Social media companies are using free smartphone apps that allow companies to spy on users’ text messages, intercept phone calls and track their location.  Unknowingly for many consumers, the terms and conditions associated with such apps give developers the right to access private information held in your device. The Facebook app for Google’s Android smartphones have been downloaded more than 100million times, yet very few of its users are thought to be … →

Bailiffs face stricter regulations

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Emma Carr Posted in Bailiffs, Civil Liberties, Councils, Home, Legal Action, Privacy | 1 Comment

“Too many people have experienced intrusive bailiff action … we want to restore balance to the system …. and strengthen protection for vulnerable people” Jonathan Djanogly MP  The news today that regulations for bailiffs are to be overhauled is welcomed news. The reforms will follow ‘Who’s knocking at your door?’ a report published last year by Big Brother Watch.  The report highlighted: how in just three years local councils had sent in bailiffs on more than six million occasions. In … →

Police and CPS admit failing to protect gang witness identity

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Emma Carr Posted in Civil Liberties, Data Protection, Information Commissioner, Legal Action, Police | 2 Comments

Today the impact of poor data protection was made hauntingly clear. A series of fundamental errors by the Met Police and the Crown Prosecution Service  led to a child witness having their details divulged to the very gang members that he were speaking out against.  The Met Police – who had promised the child that his anonymity would be protected – and the Crown Prosecution Service have been forced to pay a family more than £600,000 in compensation after the … →