Data Privacy… REALLY Not Labour’s Strong Point
Just over a month ago, I published a blogpost entitled “Data Privacy… Not Labour’s Strong Point” after two ministers had their Cabinet briefing notes photographed, blown up, and the contents published in the media. These revealed bad news over house prices and that Our Glorious Leader Gordon Brown had been asked to be a TV show judge on a show called “Junior PM” - that was definitely not stunt TV.
Of course, this was all in addition to the massive amounts of data already lost by this government.
And now they have demoinstrated that data privacy really isn’t their strong point, as yet more has been lost.
And it’s not just Top Secret files being left on trains by careless and facelss Civil Servants, but a breach perpertuated by a Cabinet minister herself - Hazel Blears again.
Information on a computer stolen from Communities Secretary Hazel Blears’ office had been sent in breach of data security rules, it has emerged…
The stolen computer is understood to have contained one confidential document relating to the housing market from March this year, as well as other restricted documents…
Restricted government documents should not be held on a personal computer. (BBC)
Restricted government documents definitely shouldn’t be held on a personal computer. Especially if they contain sensitive departmental information on extremism.
Apparently, these were emailed to her in a way that was “not fully consistent with the departmental guidance.” Quite how, I can’t fathom. Emails can be accessed from any computer that connect to the internet, so the fault lies squarely with Hazel Blears and her downloading and storage of the information.
Labour obviously really don’t get the idea of data privacy. Maybe they should all do a course on it?
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It is the ease with which vast amounts of personal or otherwise non-public information can fall into unknown — and possibly hostile — hands that is the big issue here. As you have consistently stated, it is those who wish to obtain such information from just about everyone who show themselves to be incapable of treating that information with the security it deserves.
Publicly displaying one’s papers in public (as certain Ministers have done) just goes to show their lack of understanding of even the concept of data security. Even if they were all to go and be replaced by super-duper IT/security-conscious Ministers (not possible under Labour, by the way), no doubt one day the situation would revert — when it’s too late, as all that data will by then be on file.
Therefore the only sensible course is to oppose all of this — much though a part of me would like a more joined-up and less fragmented State database system on principle.
As for leaving files lying around: well, I recall Sir Humphrey Appleby “accidentally” leaving a classified file behind after lunch with a journalist; but what has come to light in recent times (and not just the past week!) has been truly alarming.
When I was in the Civil Service, we treated all classified material with appropriate respect. We were not allowed to take such files out of the office. Indeed, we’d have so-called “open sub-files” to hold non-classified material, so that if it really were necessary to take material outside, we could take just the “open” sub-file.
Possibly the worst of all, though, is taking classified official information and sending it to one’s political office. Regardless of the level of classification of the data in the current instance, the whole principle must be that this is automatically a near-hanging offence. Certainly any MP involved in such practices needs to be dealt with appropriately, and an example set to all.
It’s what I’d do!
I agree, but don’t you think all politicians fail to get to grips with data privacy or even understand how to secure it?