-
Notifications
You must be signed in to change notification settings - Fork 0
/
datasharing.php
212 lines (162 loc) · 10.9 KB
/
datasharing.php
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
<?php $page_title = "Joining the dots on 'data sharing'";
require_once("inc/pageHead.php");?>
<div>
<h1>Joining the dots on 'data sharing'</h1>
<p>The government is trying to remove all limits on use of your private
information by officials. This means taking your information from anywhere and
passing it anywhere they like – including medical records, financial
records, ID information. For their own convenience, officials want to cancel
all rules of confidentiality in order to allow information obtained for one
purpose to be used for another</p>
<p>This is what we meant by "the database state". It is now a threat not a
theory.</p>
<p>Those who haven't been tracking this issue as closely as NO2ID will not be
aware of the key documents and initiatives that have led up to, or are a part
of, these latest data-sharing 'revelations'. (Our section '<a
href="/IDSchemes/">About ID cards</a>' contains a more exhaustive
historical list.) This page links to what we think are the most important
documents, in roughly chronological order, and tells you what you can do to
help stop them:</p>
<br />
<p><strong>1) The Citizen Information Project [Treasury]</strong> — an
Office for National Statistics (ONS) project on the creation of a 'general
population register', very quietly 'wrapped into' the National ID Scheme just
after the passing of the Identity Cards Act 2006. All the available
documentation on CIP is <a href="http://www.gro.gov.uk/cip/">published
here</a>.</p>
<p>If you want to start somewhere, we strongly recommend the Final Report
— you could get lost in the rest, which may have been the point of
publishing it all. Available as a 405KB PDF: <a href="http://www.gro.gov.uk/cip/Download.asp?CIP%20final%20report_tcm95-26296.pdf">http://www.gro.gov.uk/cip/Download.asp?CIP%20final%20report_tcm95-26296.pdf</a></p>
<br/>
<p><strong>2) 'Transformational Government' [Cabinet Office]</strong> — the key
strategy document, subtitled 'Enabled by technology' with the the cringe-worthy
strapline: 'Citizen and business-centred shared services, professionally
delivered'. Places the National Identity Register (or '<acronym title="National
Identity Register">NIR</acronym>' — see below) right at the centre of
things. Available as a 412KB PDF file: <a
href="http://www.cio.gov.uk/documents/pdf/transgov/transgov-strategy.pdf">http://www.cio.gov.uk/documents/pdf/transgov/transgov-strategy.pdf</a></p>
<br />
<p><strong>3) The Identity Cards Act 2006 [Home Office]</strong> — bullied onto
the statute books in March 2006, this is the piece of legislation that prompted
the setting up of NO2ID as a public campaign. The 'National Identity Register'
— whether one database, as originally promised, or three or many more
— sits at the heart of the government's 'identity management' ambitions.
And its tentacles will reach into every aspect of YOUR life, if we don't stop
it and get the Act repealed.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2006/ukpga_20060015_en.pdf">http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2006/ukpga_20060015_en.pdf</a> — 217KB PDF
<br />
<a href="http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/en2006/ukpgaen_20060015_en.pdf">http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/en2006/ukpgaen_20060015_en.pdf</a> — a further 187KB of Explanatory Notes...</p>
<br />
<p><strong>4) 'Information Sharing Vision Statement' [Department for
Constitutional Affairs]</strong> — buried in September 2006, just after
the anniversary of 9/11 and when Tony Blair's troubles at the TUC were bound to
grab the headlines. As NO2ID said at the time, "The announcement of the
abolition of privacy ought to be big news" — it wasn't. We even went so
far as to accuse the Information Commissioner of "throwing in the towel".
People may draw their own conclusions from the deafening silence from the ICO
on these latest announcements...</p>
<p><a href="http://www.dca.gov.uk/foi/sharing/information-sharing.pdf">http://www.dca.gov.uk/foi/sharing/information-sharing.pdf</a>
– 399KB PDF</p>
<br />
<p><strong>5) The Varney Review [Treasury]</strong> — Full title, 'Service
transformation: A better service for citizens and businesses, a better deal for
the taxpayer', fronted by Sir David Varney and published in December 2006.
Available as a 752KB PDF file:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/53D/F2/pbr06_varney_review.pdf">http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/53D/F2/pbr06_varney_review.pdf</a></p>
<br/>
<p><strong>6) 'Strategic Action Plan for the National Identity Scheme —
Safeguarding your identity' [Home Office]</strong> — note the
none-too-subtle shift from 'ID cards'. Buried literally hours before Parliament
rose for Christmas on 19th December 2006. Available as an 858KB PDF file:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.identitycards.gov.uk/downloads/Strategic_Action_Plan.pdf">http://www.identitycards.gov.uk/downloads/Strategic_Action_Plan.pdf</a></p>
<br />
<p><strong>7) The Service Transformation Agreement [Treasury]</strong> — an
action plan for the surveillance state that explicitly states (in paragraph A.5,
p19) the intention "to overcome current barriers* to information sharing within
the public sector". Fifty-eight pages of a general vision and departmental
'service plans', explaining how each government department will use "identity
management" to collate and share information about citizens and businesses.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/pbr_csr07_service.pdf">http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/pbr_csr07_service.pdf</a>
– 513KB PDF.</p>
<p>*Those "barriers" aren't mentioned in this document, but they were neatly
pinned down by the MoJ in the 'Information Sharing Vision Statement' (see
above) when it was the plain old Department of Constitutional Affairs. They
are: 1) human rights law, especially the constructive privacy protections under
Article 8 of the Convention, 2) the Data Protection Acts, 3) common law
confidentiality, and 4) the fundamental rule of administrative law, <em>ultra
vires</em>.</p>
<br />
<p><strong>8) 'National Identity Scheme Delivery Plan 2008' [Home Office] and
the Crosby Report [Treasury]</strong> — well over a year after the
'Strategic Action Plan', and with no sign of any progress on the ID scheme,
this new plan and the long-overdue Crosby report on the 'Public Private Forum
on Identity Management' were released together in March 2008. Few noticed that
Sir James (the former head of HBOS) said the Home Office's "identity
management" ambitions were utterly inappropriate, and that the function of
"identity assurance" would be better taken away from government all
together.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ips.gov.uk/identity/downloads/national-identity-scheme-delivery-2008.pdf">http://www.ips.gov.uk/identity/downloads/national-identity-scheme-delivery-2008.pdf</a> — Delivery plan, 323KB PDF
<br />
<a href="http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/identity_assurance060308.pdf">http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/identity_assurance060308.pdf</a>
— Sir James Crosby's 'Challenges and opportunities in identity assurance', 226KB PDF</p>
<br />
<p><strong>9) The Thomas/Walport Data Sharing Review [Ministry of
Justice]</strong> — written by Richard Thomas (the Information
Commissioner, but in a personal capacity) and Dr Mark Walport (the director of
medical research charity, the Wellcome Trust) the review quite unsurprisingly
recommended that the Information Commissioner's Office should get more funding
and expanded powers, and that medical researchers should have greater access to
people's medical records. It also contained recommendations to "remove barriers
to information sharing" that were, of course, enthusiatically welcomed by
government.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.justice.gov.uk/docs/data-sharing-review-report.pdf">http://www.justice.gov.uk/docs/data-sharing-review-report.pdf</a> – 460KB PDF</p>
<br />
<p><strong>10) The Coroners and Justice Bill [Ministry of Justice]</strong> —
received its First Reading in the Commons on 16th January 2009. For more detail
on the massively dangerous information sharing clauses within this Bill, see
below. Make no mistake, this is the Bill to build the database state.</p>
<p>To follow the progress of the Bill, and to read it and related documents,
visit: <a href="http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2008-09/coronersandjustice.html">http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2008-09/coronersandjustice.html</a></p>
<br />
<br />
<p><strong>Right now, the most important thing you can do is <em>tell other
people</em> what is going on</strong>.</p>
<p>Send your friends, family and colleagues a link to this page (<a
href="https://www.no2id.net/datasharing">https://www.no2id.net/datasharing</a>)
if they want to find out more, and make sure that YOU keep up to date on what
the government is doing.</p>
<br />
<p>Registering your support — <a
href="https://www.no2id.net/getinvolved/support"><strong>to receive our
fortnightly newsletter</strong></a> and a FREE information pack — is an
easy way to stay informed.</p>
<p>Please do take the time to <strong><a href="http://www.WriteToThem.com">write to your MP via
www.WriteToThem.com</a></strong> and, — a great way to reach lots of
people, — write to the letters page of your local paper.</p>
<p>The Coroners and Justice Bill, currently being rushed through Parliament,
contains a number of controversial provisions — but to the casual reader
appears mainly to be about reforming inquests and sentencing.</p>
<p><em>In your own words</em>, please ask your MP to read Part 8 (clauses 151 →
154) of the Coroners and Justice Bill, and to oppose the massive enabling
powers in the "Information sharing" clause. The Bill is due its Second Reading
in the Commons on 26th January 2009, and will continue on through the Commons
and then into the House of Lords.</p>
<p>Ask your MP to demand the information sharing clauses be given proper
Parliamentary scrutiny. This is something that will affect every single one of
their constituents, unlike the rest of the Bill. There is a grave danger that
the government will set a timetable that will cut off debate before these
proposals — which are at the end of the Bill — are discussed.</p>
<p>With support for the ID scheme crumbling, even in the Home Office's own
skewed polls — <a href=""><strong>the last of which showed a 5%
drop</strong></a> — trust in the government's handling of our personal
information is at an all-time low.</p>
<p><a href="http://forum.no2id.net/viewtopic.php?p=100808"><strong>A YouGov
poll in the Sunday Times</strong></a> on 18th January 2009 shows that the
public opposes these new powers by a factor of <strong>3 to 1 against</strong>.
65% of people asked said they give government "too much power", only 19%
thought not. The government can't pretend a popular mandate for what it is
doing. And it is a mechanism designed to by-pass Parliament in future. It is
being done only for the convenience of the bureaucrats.</p>
<br />
</div>
<?php require_once("inc/pageFooter.php");?>