Sunday 28 December 2008

Don't Tread on Me

I see that the SNP's been having a go at Westminster's inability to protect data:
THE SNP today hit out at the UK Government's "appalling" data loss record, claiming more than 13 million records were lost this year, equivalent to 25 every minute.
And Pete Wishart's certainly got this right:
Mr Wishart said Labour's record on data security was reason enough to abandon ID cards.
But as one of the commenters puts it:
I really do think the Scottish Nationalist Party are tempting fate - it's not as if those elements of the public sector for which they have responsibility don't handle personal data!
That's exactly what I thought when I first read this piece. Abandoning ID cards is certainly a start but that doesn't deal with the fundamental issue here. What really needs to be addressed is why governments (including Scottish ones) need to collect so much information on us in the first place. And the answer of course is that they've strayed far beyond what could be said to be the only legitimate function of government: protecting us against those who initiate force or fraud.

Full stop.

For those politicians who don't understand this and who might wonder what's in store for them I recommend watching Channel 4's excellent new production.

1 comment:

David Farrer said...

Comments made on previous template:

Disco Stu
The SNP are tempting fate.  
 
The data loss was not really the fault of the Labour government, it was the fault of the civil service, and realistically you cannot expect governments to be responsible for such matters. Heads should roll, but they should be the heads of the civil servants who failed in their duty. 
 
This could quite easily happen to the SNP, and if they bleat on like Wishart has done they will lose the "it isnae ma fault" excuse, which it probably won't be!

28 December 2008, 18:36:35 GMT