Government Gives Away Your Private Data

There is an interesting, and worrying, article over at The Register about the sharing of private individuals data across countries within the EU.

The register used a Freedom of Information request to obtain a copy of the “Issues and Risks” report prepared by the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) which warns that UK citizens DVLA records will be accessible by other EU member countries with no checks or requirements as to the purpose of obtaining that data.

This follows the implementation of the Prüm Convention, which the government signed up to in June 2007. This convention is, apparently, to allow EU countries to share information to prevent serious crime, terrorism and illegal immigration but in doing so it appears that any of the countries involved could take and use the information in any way they please.

It would appear there is nothing to stop a foreign country taking the information contained on the DVLA database and selling it to commercial organizations and the register points out one quote in the report which says that a, “gatekeeper” function to block access to personal data for trivial or commercial reasons is “not practical”

You have to wonder if the terrorists are not winning.  Our government, and others, have trashed the rights of the individual, brought in dictatorial laws and have even been involved with to some degree or another kidnap and torture, all in the name of protecting us. Surely we should be defending the values that we believe make us a better, more honest and just society?

What is the point of defending us all if by so doing you take away all the rights to privacy, individual rights and freedoms that are what we are supposed to be defending. It appears that the only measure used to judge the success of the anti terror campaign is the body count. If we avoid casualties but lose the democracy we are supposed to be defending how can that be judged a success?

I do not suggest this is an easy task. I have every sympathy with the security services and government in protecting us from an enemy whose sole purpose appears to be to disrupt our society and cause death and destruction but if the aim of the terrorists is to destabilize the governments of the western world by making them authoritarian and causing them to destroy the rights of the individual, they sadly, seem to be succeeding and that is not something any of us should be happy about.

Gagging Order Prevents news About Tiger Woods

Apparently lawyers for Tiger Woods have obtained an injunction preventing UK publishers from publishing certain information about Tiger Woods on websites and in newspapers or on TV.

It is good to know we live in a country that could support users of twitter and other websites who were able to get news out about what was happening in Iran after the disputed election result there. Meanwhile here we are prevented from talking about something as unimportant as details about…. something or other that presumably is about or in reference to Tiger Woods and whatever he has been doing.

I thought freedom of speech was something we were supposed to enjoy in this country. We are quick to criticize other countries that restrict it. Personally I couldn’t care less about what TW has been up to and wouldn’t want to publish it if I knew, but it does bother me that I am prevented from doing so.

If you want to know I expect it is all over the American media on their websites but I can’t be bothered to look myself and no doubt people who do live in freedom loving democracies are able to Tweet about it.

Personally I’d rather go and take some photographs of some unimportant buildings somewhere in the UK. Oh, I forgot. I can’t do that because I’ll get arrested for terrorism.

What is this country coming too?

Cutting Back Bankers Bonuses

It was interesting to hear that Bob Diamond, now president of Barclays and the head of their investment banking division was saying that severe restrictions on bankers bonuses would be bad for banking and for the economy because many bankers would leave.

This from a man who has, in the past recieved bonuses amounting to up to around £20,000,000 in a year.Well, he would say that wouldn’t he.  It would seem rather unlikely that he would support measures to restrict bonuses having benefited so much himself, in the past.

What we need are bankers who are prepared to do their jobs for a fair salary and a fair bonus. The sorts of figures thrown around of just how large a proportion of bank profits are given out in bonuses is staggering. A bonus of 5% would be a lot but in some cases it is up to 50% that is surely a bad business practice by any standard.