Scottish gov to curb personal data collection
The Scottish Government plans to reduce the amount of information on citizens held by large public databases and curb the collection and use of personal data by public authorities. A consultation on its plans has just begun. The Scottish Government, run by the Scottish National Party in a minority administration, has the backing …
hats off to the Scottish government on addressing this issue - particularly the separation of personal and transactional data, a basic rule.
they seem to be able to run their own country a lot better than they run ours.
Once more demonstrating that their legal system is based on much sounder principles than ours.
Did you know that if some private car-park owner or someone similar clamps your car in Scotland, it's treated as robbery? That's not the only good principle they have; their law puts people ahead of property in a lot of other ways.
Also, Al-Megrahi was completely innocent and the trial utterly stitched up with millions of dollars of CIA bribes to all the main witnesses, so letting him go was right and should have happened years ago. (With an apology, exoneration and compensation).
If I wanted to know every minute detail of your life you'd call me a stalker, yet when governments do it, it's for some greater good that can't quite be quantized in real mathematics by real statisticians.
I'm in favour of Scottish Parliament enforcing it's duty under the privacy directive, it should never have been any other way.
A Scottish PM in Downing Street, and once again, Scotland's citizenry gets the friendly approach and us lot living in England just have to bend over, grab our ankles and have an ID card scheme forced squarely where the sun doesn't even think about shining.
One can now only assume NewLabour has been a Scottish device to get back at the English for William Wallace....
I wish our Goverment were half as sane and reasonable as yours
okay, quite a lot of the time actually, I'm proud to live in Scotland. Having said that though, some of the more sensible legal practices up here are due to having less legacy legislation to wade through and amend.
I hope that the currently somewhat beleagured minority government gets this legislation through in the current session.
The proposals sound splendid. I fear they'll be wiped out if/when New Labour gets back in control of Holyrood.
Unfortunately we've not getting out of the ID cards up here, however the scots government has said you won't need them to access anything they control. So they'll be even more pointless up here than the rest of the UK. But good on the SNP for heading in the right direction now, even if they can't stop everything.
BTW we Apologize for brown but in fairness he is a fifer.
What makes you think us Scots want Brown back? :P
But well done the SNP, once again showing those clowns in Westminster how to do it.
Tsk, tsk. No link to the consultation document in the article so here it is for those interested:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/08/PrinciplesConsultation
Closing date for comments is 23 November.
Prevent the crime of silence (or something).
I rather think we're getting the 'friendly approach' *despite* having Gordon Brown in Downing Street. Remember that it was months after the last Scottish election before he would even talk to the new First Minister.
And New Labour was less about getting back at you for William Wallace, more about getting back at you for Margaret Thatcher ;)
Anyway... I'm sure that a quarantine to deal with this outbreak of common sense won't be far off.
Less government is good news - certainly less 1984-style Big Brother is excellent. Unfortunately I'm cynical enough to think that this'll only last until the Dark Lord (Mandelson) decrees otherwise (and I can think of a couple of ways he can "justify" this - slimy toad him).
As an Englishman living in Scotland I had no time for the SNP, but they're impressing me more and more. Still won't convince me to vote for independence though. Ha-ha
Re: AC (Pica) "BTW we Apologize for brown but in fairness he is a fifer.". I get the distinct impression these days that Brown is like Reagan - just a figurehead/mouthpiece. Secondly, since I'm married to a Fifer I've got to ask what the heck is wrong wi' bein' frae the Kingdom (the Lang Toun in my lassies case)? :-P
It is fine to see a sensible decision regarding data and data management
"we Apologize for brown but in fairness he is a fifer"
lmao. I work with a bunch of Fifers and they are now all doing that indignant Fifer defensive piggy snort thing, waving their arms (and all thirteen fingers) around because I laughed so hard. Thank you!
First a ridiculously fine triumph of common decency over realpolitik with Al Megrahi, and now this!
Get similar restrictions implemented and ruthlessly enforced in the private sector too, and CCTV outlawed in all but extremely sensitive areas and I'll be sure to be back home come referendum day.
dear lord the snp doing something that i actually agree with, it feels just so wrong on so many levels.
argh, labour and snp cant decide who i ought to loath more
either way im still waiting for the day that abomination across the road from holyrood palce gets turned into a hotel. was there today and its like something out of a 70's concrete nightmare.
Another Mason does good work
learning anything?
“The guidelines stipulate that privacy impact assessments must be carried out in relation to new Scottish Government plans and that any body gathering personal data must explain why they are doing so and how it will be used. “
The data to be gathered on every citizen couldn't really get much more personal http://www.forhighlandschildren.org/htm/girfec/gir-publications/phnr-separate-forms-nov08/phnr-v4-contents.pdf and of course why they are doing it is to "protect children" ???
Look more closely and the reason is actually to identify those at risk of not achieving government prescribed outcomes and take steps to prevent that risk materialising http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/01/13095148/5
Personally I find this stated reason objectionable enough.....but once these data (however carefully stored http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/924/0009673.pdf) are for all intents and purposes "state" (Scottish, UK, EU, World) property, they can do whatever the hell they want with them.
Almost everyone on the panel (or the law company they work for) has been involved in some capacity with the development of the ecare system
At least the upfront involvement of Jerry Microsoft Fishenden is not quite so sneaky. I was,however, saddened to discover that just a few googles reveal Privacy International/Gus Hosein/ Microsoft connections. Not good :(
The SNP just don't get it http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2009/06/28/scottish-government-seek-end-to-1bn-id-card-plans-78057-21478072/ and are gaily demanding an end to ID cards while happily supporting a citizen surveillance scheme which originated in the EU and was introduced to Scotland via the Blair Westminster government and then Labour Scottish Executive. Wake up Fergus et al !!!!!!
Further background...
http://www.home-education.biz/Blogs/21/82/id-cards-for-babies-the-rest-will-follow/
Discussion of this issue...
http://www.home-education.biz/forum/general-discussion/8525-scot-govt-consultation-on-id-management-and-privacy.html#post24374
Search forums for girfec, ecare, laming, contact point etc for more info on related topics.
