How secure is your personal information?

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Nick Pickles Posted in Data Protection, Online privacy | 3 Comments

The Data Protection Act may be 13 years old, but as research published today by the Information Commissioner’s Office highlights, personal information is still far from secure.

In an age of social networks, online shopping and digital government, personal information is a currency in its own right. Our privacy depends on information about us, whether that be medical records or recent purchases, being held securely and accessed for the proper reason. It is also essential that we have the ability to correct information held about us, where errors and conflicts exist.

Personal information is a critical part of protecting our privacy in a digital age. Yet as the table to the right shows, the majority of organisations still do not understand their obligations under the Act.

With instances of personal information being lost or accessed inappropriately continuing to rise, up 58% in the past year, Government needs to do far more to ensure privacy is protected with adequate legal safeguards.

This survey highlights the failure of the ICO to create a clear and robust system for protecting information, and reaffirms the need for tougher sanctions and a much greater effort to enforce the law. Big Brother Watch has previously supported the ICO’s call for custodial sanctions to be available alongside fines, and these findings reinforce the need for much more to be done to improve the protection of our personal information.

You have the right to remain private?

Today’s report from the Joint Committee on the draft defamation bill is the first real step towards reforming English defamation law in decades. Big Brother Watch has previously highlighted the chilling effect on free speech libel laws have, and today’s report contains many positive proposals.

However, one area of interest for the committee has been the ability for anonymous web users to defame people, and hide behind that anonymity. In this area, some of the proposals are quite concerning.

The report says it wants a “cultural shift” that means anonymous postings are not seen as “true, reliable or trustworthy.” Part of this shift may be encouraged by giving greater legal protection from defamation cases to sites that identify authors.

Libel law as it stands is clearly not functioning properly, and is certainly not fit for a digital age.

Google’s New Good to Know Privacy Portal

Posted on October 20, 2011 by Big Brother Watch Posted in Data Protection, Mastering the Internet, Online privacy, Privacy, Social Networking, Technology | 4 Comments

This week, Google very quietly launched a privacy portal called Good to Know. In the UK, you may even have already seen their adverts on the London Underground or elsewhere last week, a campaign teamed with the Citizens Advice Bureau. The portal provides internet security advice, tips and privacy policy information on Google applications and pages to users worldwide. A huge first for the big players in the business.

The Good to Know portal is made up of four main sections and offers information in simple breakdowns and short clips. It even offers a ‘jargon buster’ in order to make privacy advice and information accessible to the least tech-savvy users of Google. Bloggers, tech junkies and critics alike seem to be impressed at Google’s innovative approach to providing, ensuring and explaining internet security and privacy.

Google’s approach to the portal is also incredibly welcome after repeated concerns with internet security have plagued some of its competitors, in particular Facebook. Facebook has taken hit after hit with regards to its privacy policy and transparency. Recent issues with its ‘Like’ button and tracking users, wire tap accusations in the US, and ever changing privacy settings have triggered major criticisms and complaints. Google has, it appears, learned much from the issues where its competitors have not.

Lord Baker’s 488 pages cannot hide his fundamental failure on civil liberties

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Nick Pickles Posted in Europe, European Arrest Warrant, International | 1 Comment

Lord Baker’s review into UK Extradition Law – all 488 pages of it – has been published today. A major section of the report deals with the working of the European Arrest Warrant, which Big Brother Watch held a fringe meeting on at Conservative conference.

Before the election, Dominic Grieve summed up the situation well. He said: “Our extradition laws are a mess. They’re one-sided. A Conservative government will re-write them.” Nick Clegg was in agreement on the failures of the UK/US Extradition treaty, adding: “I forced a debate on it…and warned the Government then that the treaty would lead to an abuse of people’s rights in this country.”

Nick de Bois MP, who spoke at our fringe event, yesterday outlined what he would like the review to say on the European Arrest Warrant. His view shares the concerns of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, who reported in July this year on the need for reform.

The shouting lampost: coming to a street near you?

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Nick Pickles Posted in Bins, CCTV, Privacy | 4 Comments

Thanks to the Big Brother Watch supporter who highlighted his local council’s latest toy – the shouting lamppost.

Shepway District Council installed the device to tackle fly-tipping by a set of industrial bins. Unlike a normal CCTV camera, the system takes the photo of every person who walks near the bins, and plays a loud message warning you not to fly tip and announcing that it is taking your picture.

Given that you don’t need to be in immediate physical proximity to the bins to trigger the system, the likelyhood is that photographs are being taken – and stored – of people who have committed no offence, other than using a public right of way.

Dumping private details in the Bin-Oliver Letwin, Champion of Data Protection

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Big Brother Watch Posted in Bins, Data Protection, ID cards | 4 Comments

It has emerged that David Cameron’s Cabinet Office Minister has been casually dropping papers in litter bins around St. James’s Park nearby Number 10. Photographed on his mobile phone and shuffling through papers, Letwin is shown to dispose of documents in the bins on at least 5 occasions. The documents, partly torn up before being dumped, consisted of emails, memos, letters and papers – some of which contained constituents’ personal details.

A spokesperson for Mr. Lewtin stated that the documents were “not of a sensitive nature,” and that the minister sometimes disposes of copies of letters while walking to work in the morning.

As it is Government policy to shred documents rather than just placing them in the bin, we sincerely hope that he hasn’t breached basic security protocol by tossing these papers in the rubbish in a public park. It is unclear whether the information Mr. Letwin disposed of actually was of a secure nature, however we are very disappointed with the lackadaisical treatment of constituents’ personal details.

TFL dispatches bailiffs every 115 seconds

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Nick Pickles Posted in Bailiffs, Civil Liberties | Leave a comment

An investigation by Big Brother Watch has uncovered the alarming frequency Transport for London turn to debt recovery agencies for unpaid congestion charges.

Despite claiming to only use them as a last resort, in the past 12 months TFL has issued instructions to bailiffs 272,285 times – the equivalent of more than 1,300 every working day.

This research follows on from Big Brother Watch’s report ‘Who’s Knocking at Your Door’ which exposed the shocking extent of bailiff use by local authorities, which highlighted how between 2007 and 2010 local authorities used bailiffs almost 6,000,000 times.

Protecting the public isn’t just about police powers

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Nick Pickles Posted in Civil Liberties, Media coverage, Riots | Leave a comment

Writing on The Commentator, I argue that the police don’t need new powers, they need a new approach.

“Both Coalition parties repeatedly highlighted the proliferation of criminal offences and new powers introduced by the last government, and how such an approach made the police’s work harder by ‘rewriting the rule book’ repeatedly.

Less than 18 months after the election, they seem to have abandoned this outlook and are falling into the same trap as their predecessors.

David Cameron was absolutely right to argue that society is broken. He is absolutely wrong if he thinks a more authoritarian approach is part of the solution to fix it.”

You can read the full article here.

Where’s the porn, we’re British?

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Nick Pickles Posted in Civil Liberties, Home, Online privacy, Privacy, Web blocking | 14 Comments

“The Supreme Court says pornography is anything without artistic merit that causes sexual thoughts; that’s their definition, essentially. No artistic merit, causes sexual thoughts. Hmm. . . . Sounds like . . . every commercial on television, doesn’t it?” Bill Hicks

Later today we’re expecting a speech from the Prime Minister on internet adult content and how four of the UK’s biggest internet service providers (ISPs) are agreeing to implement an opt-in to adult material online.

We should tread very carefully when developing state-sanctioned censorship of the internet. Let alone the quagmire of deciding what should be censored, it is a dangerous path to go down to expect technology to replace parental oversight and responsibility.

Did you know it’s illegal to take photographs of your children?

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Nick Pickles Posted in Civil Liberties, Terrorism Legislation | 17 Comments

No? Nor did I. But for one over-zealous security guard, it is not only illegal, but warrants calling the police.

The full story is here and needless to say it would be laughable if it wasn’t the latest in a string of incidents where anyone with a camera is seen as a security threat.

I’m in a fairly rare situation of both campaigning on civil liberties in Westminster and being a press card carrying photographer. I’m also a supporter of the campaign ‘I’m a Photographer not a Terrorist‘ which has done excellent work highlighting the cavalier use of Section 44 of the Terrorism Act on photographers.

The fact that in this case the police claimed that under the Prevention of Terrorism Act they had the power to confiscate the mobile phone on which the photos were taken, and the security guard had attempted to compel the individual to delete the photographs, highlight how dangerously ill-informed authorities are about their powers.

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