your thoughts - data protection

Former Member

Hi - i,m new!

Anyway, i,m intrested in the UK Data Protection Act.

I would just like to know your views about it.
In particualr, do you think the UK government is serious about data protection?

Having just watched the news a while ago about the tax frauds, i feel that there not.
Plus, searching through the BBC news website, i read a very intresting article about the inland revenue selling information to the press.

Anyway, whats your thoughts about it?
Do you think the UK government is serious about data protection?

Thanks and i look forward to your reples

Alex

Former Member

I've made use of both the Data Protection Act (for a subject access request from the university) and the Freedom of Information Act (to get info from a govt agency). Seems to work.

Former Member

On the issue of "taxation". Or, to give it a more correct name, "extortion".

I've used both the data protection and FOI, and I can happily tell you that if it's an akward question it won't get answered. If you ask the same question again you get blacklisted as being "vexatious".

The only time I have got an answer took 6 months of badgering to acquire and I had to prove I couldn't "reasonably acquire the answer from another source". Usual government lip-service to the idea of accountability.

Former Member

Like klintock says, it is little more than lip service.

Go and ask the council how much of YOUR money they waste on some jumped-up braindead twat (also called a Chief Executive), and see how quickly they respond.

Former Member

klintock wrote:

On the issue of "taxation". Or, to give it a more correct name, "extortion".

I've used both the data protection and FOI, and I can happily tell you that if it's an akward question it won't get answered. If you ask the same question again you get blacklisted as being "vexatious".

The only time I have got an answer took 6 months of badgering to acquire and I had to prove I couldn't "reasonably acquire the answer from another source". Usual government lip-service to the idea of accountability.

simple, stop paying taxes, dont use government services, live rough in the wild

Former Member

simple, stop paying taxes, dont use government services, live rough in the wild

What "government services" would these be?

They have sold everything off, mate.

That being said I'll happily pay for anything that I have used, once they provide me with something of substance to pay with, a contract for both of us that's binding if and when either I don't pay or they fuck up and the means to refuse any service which I don't like or to provide them in another way myself.

You know, like everyone else does, through voluntary association.

Former Member

klintock wrote:

What "government services" would these be?

They have sold everything off, mate.

That being said I'll happily pay for anything that I have used, once they provide me with something of substance to pay with, a contract for both of us that's binding if and when either I don't pay or they fuck up and the means to refuse any service which I don't like or to provide them in another way myself.

You know, like everyone else does, through voluntary association.

will you behave yourself man!

Former Member

Hey, I wasn't the one who put things in a context where ideas like "moral" and "fair" have no meaning. The more direct I am now, the sooner the whole thing is over and I can go back to being a nice guy.

Former Member

just thinking a bit more about it...i suppose the governments obsession with databases is another thing about this data proection.

Just been reading on a website about these ID cards, and how they plan to store all the data onto a database.

The database will bascially have every detail about you on there...how secure will this be?

I somewhat still think that this government is not serious about data protection.

Former Member

The database will bascially have every detail about you on there...how secure will this be?

Secure against who? The people most likely to kill/kidnap/rob/injure you are the ones in charge of it in the first place.

Why the hell is the general perception of the "government" that they are there to protect people? The word means to control for lord's sake.

Former Member

If you are talking ID cards then I'd be less worried about Data Protection and more about why your Govt thinks it should have so much information about you itself...

Former Member

alx100 wrote:

The database will bascially have every detail about you on there...how secure will this be?

Probably not very. They have a habit of muffing IT related things up.

Former Member

There's two different issues being discussed here though - data protection and access to information.

From the work we've done around data protection the laws seem extremely robust, especially around the protection of sensitive information.

As to access to information, anecdotally it seems pretty poor - though Mark Thomas managed some good results.