28th January 2008
Surveillance society – ICO rules out CCTV sound recording
Seven out of ten individuals oppose the idea of CCTV cameras which record their conversations, new research by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has revealed.
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Commission's Press Release
7th November 2007
Parents can photograph school events, says the ICO
As the festive season rapidly approaches and schools start organising their annual Christmas concert or nativity play, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is reminding parents that the Data Protection Act does not prevent them filming or taking photographs of their children and their friends participating in such events.
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Release
5th September 2007
DNA Database The Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, said:
“Society needs to take a very long and very hard look at this issue before a universal database of everyone’s DNA is considered. I welcome a debate on the future of the database especially as there is unfairness with the current system and the issue has received little public debate to date.
“However, to extend the database further has serious implications for people’s privacy in this country.
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Information Commissioner's Statement
Information
Commissioner Views ID Cards
Identity cards - Statement from the Office of the Information Commissioner
The Identity Cards Act 2006 has now passed into law. Our concerns about some of the central features of the Government's proposals were drawn attention to, and echoed by, parliamentarians during the passage of the legislation. We have expressed long standing concerns that the proposals amounted to much more than a simple identity card and more significant concerns centred upon the creation of a National Identity Register.
Although there were some limited but welcomed changes made during the passage of the legislation, we are still concerned about the extent of the information collected and held by Government and how this will be used in practice. This is particularly true of the 'data trail' recorded when a card is checked, for this has the potential to build up a detailed picture of how individuals live their lives. We warned during the passage of the legislation about the potential for 'function creep' for ID cards and the National Identity Register. Since the passage of the legislation the Government has already signalled its intention to develop the National Identity Register as an adult population database for the purposes of the planned Citizens Information Project.
Our priority is now to ensure that the way the Identity Cards scheme operates in practice takes full account of the data protection concerns.
June 2005
The Identity Cards Bill- The Information Commissioner’s Concerns.
The Identity Cards Bill is not just about the introduction of ID cards for
individuals, it will establish a whole system of identity verification with the
recording of information about individuals on a government controlled central
register with a record being kept of when it is checked by both public and
private sector organisations. Recording substantial amounts of information about
so many individuals raises substantial data protection and privacy concerns.
View the Information Commissioner's whole response on the
Issue of ID Cards
Why
not read the Home Office view - pay attention to the clever wording |
