Gnawing the knuckle that knocks it
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Lib Dems call for new Commission on Privacy
THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS have had enough of the countless losses of information encountered last year through no fault of anyone but the government.
Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg announced yesterday the party’s membership plans on a new Commission on Privacy.
The Commission will examine the use, abuse and retention of the all important private data proposing a new and improved policy which the party hopes will protect the rights of individuals.
Heading the Commission on Privacy will be David Heath, who Clegg says will do an excellent job of keeping our data safe – so on his head be it.
Other members of this commission include, Simon Davies, Shami Chakrabarti, Baroness Sue Miller and Henry Porter of the Observer.
Speaking to the Inquirer, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said, "The Government has proven itself to be notoriously bad at keeping our personal data safe." He also said that David Heath, "Will work alongside an unparalleled panel of experts to put forward extra safeguards required to protect the rights of individuals from our increasingly authoritarian Government."
Heath himself says, "British people have never been subject to so much intrusion and prying, and whatever the merits of collecting information, it must be used responsibly, properly and securely. That is clearly not the case at present."
Let’s hope it’s not the case in the future either. μ
L'Inq
Liberal Democrats
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I'm afraid Simon Davies' emply by Phorm and the sham of the video of the town hall event have totally undermined his professionalism and his ability to be seen as impartial or doing the right thing (that video was the one never fully released; contrary to what Simon said with crystal clarity on his website)
Other than SD, the names look like good choices indeed.
The likes of Phorm/121media and other would be data intercepting companies need to be stopped. The private communication of British citizens must not be sold for profit. That's why 121Media failed. That's why Phorm and Webwise is doomed to fail (and BT if they implement it)
And why are BT still not in court over it? And why is the letter to the EU from the UK gov not being released?
Soon be twenty thousand people signatures onto the Downing Street Petition against Phorm eh?
This sounds like a fabulous idea.
Yet Simon Davis participation is inevitably going to be over-shadowed by his relationship with Phorm.
To quote Coleridge;
"Ah. well a-day. what evil looks
Had I from old and young
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung"
Great news. I'm fed up of hearing day after day, that MY personal information is lost, mislaid, or exploited for commercial gain, whether by the bank, the Revenue, or the MOD. And I am also bothered about the way my ISP seems to play fast and loose with my browsing privacy - so I hope that the very well informed Baroness Miller will educate the other members of this group (and our lamentably IT-illiterate government) about the threats to web privacy and intellectual property, from companies like Phorm, in their partnership with ISP's such as BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk. While the Congress over in the States has got tough over the issue of Deep Packet Inspection abuse by ISP's and NebuAd, our own government seems not to be at all bothered, even when the law is broken repeatedly.
It is good to see some news that could help protect our privacy. A welcome name to the list is Baroness Sue Miller, who has been working hard in the house asking questions Government perhaps wished were hidden. I do wonder if there could be a conflict of interest though with Simon Davies included due to his partnership with Phorm the company behind webwise which intercepts internet user’s browsers.