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New powers vital to avert surveillance
society, says watchdog
Alan Travis
London
Guardian
Monday May 01, 2007
The information commissioner is to propose sweeping
new privacy powers today to halt the slide towards a surveillance
society. Richard Thomas will tell a Commons home affairs select
committee inquiry that the accelerating pace of technological change
means pre-emptive action is needed to minimise the intrusion of
the state and companies into the individual lives of citizens.
"Advances in technology mean that as individuals
lead their lives in the 21st century they leave electronic footprints
behind with the click of mouse, making a phone call, paying with
a payment card, using 'joined-up' government services or just walking
down a street where CCTV is in operation," Mr Thomas said.
"Our transactions are tracked, our interactions identified and
our preferences profiled - all with the potential to build up an increasingly
detailed and intrusive picture of how each of us lives."
The privacy safeguards he wants introduced include mandatory privacy
impact statements, compulsory powers of inspection and penalties to
punish flagrant breaches of data protection laws.
Transport ministers are the first to agree to the introduction
of US-style privacy impact laws, with contractors operating the
first road-pricing schemes required to spell out exactly what they
will do with the vehicle-tracking data they generate.
Mr Thomas told the Guardian yesterday that his warning last November
that Britain was "sleepwalking towards a surveillance society"
had already acted as a wake-up call to the public, but there was
still a long way to go to make sure that the risks did not materialise.
"The risks from excessive surveillance affect both individuals
and society as a whole. As well as risks such as identity mistakes
and security breaches, there can be unnecessary intrusion into people's
lives and loss of personal autonomy. There is also a concern that
too much surveillance will create a climate of fear and suspicion,"
said Mr Thomas.
The new powers he wants include:
· Mandatory privacy impact statements: Modelled on assessments
used in the US, Australia and Canada, all government departments
introducing new surveillance technologies would be required to publish
assessments of their likely privacy impact to ensure they do not
lead to unacceptable intrusions.
· Inspections: the information commissioner has the power
to conduct an inspection and audit to ensure compliance with data
protection laws, but has to have the consent of the organisation
concerned. Mr Thomas wants the power to conduct investigations without
first needing the consent of the target.
· Penalties: currently the commissioner only has the power
to issue an enforcement notice which does not impose any punishment
on those who flagrantly breach the Data Protection Act. "Such
an approach may be appropriate for isolated contraventions of the
law, or where there is a genuine misunderstanding, but a more effective
sanction is needed where there are flagrant, far-reaching breaches
of the law," Mr Thomas said.
His written evidence to the Commons inquiry into the surveillance
society compares the stealthy, creeping encroachment on civil liberties
to a frog being slowly boiled to death without realising it.
INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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