Thursday, November 18, 2004
Irony discovers David Blunkett
I first saw this on Labour Watch but it has since been spotted all over the blogosphere. The Home Secretary, who plans to make us all carry an ID card complete with biometric data and the potential to allow the authorities instant access to any computerised record held on us, is attacking supermarket loyalty cards.
Mr Blunkett is quoted as saying that: "There is a real issue about how that should be overseen and supervised". He suggested broadening the debate about the "very limited access to and use of information in terms of ID cards" to look at protecting privacy in such cases. "It is a really good opportunity now to start debating what is known about us, by whom, who supervises and oversees it and how we can get a grip on it". Exactly!
Putting to one side the fact that people have a choice whether or not to hold a store loyalty card, these are of course regulated under the Data Protection Act, information cannot be shared without permission and people can inspect the database relating to themselves. The same cannot be said for Blunkett's ID cards.
Mr Blunkett is quoted as saying that: "There is a real issue about how that should be overseen and supervised". He suggested broadening the debate about the "very limited access to and use of information in terms of ID cards" to look at protecting privacy in such cases. "It is a really good opportunity now to start debating what is known about us, by whom, who supervises and oversees it and how we can get a grip on it". Exactly!
Putting to one side the fact that people have a choice whether or not to hold a store loyalty card, these are of course regulated under the Data Protection Act, information cannot be shared without permission and people can inspect the database relating to themselves. The same cannot be said for Blunkett's ID cards.
Labels: ID
