Recognising the huge value and importance of individuals’ identity information and tackling variations in how information is used across Government, ‘Safeguarding Identity’ is the focus of a new strategy launched today, 23 June 2009. The initiative has been led by IPS on behalf of Government and involved more than 12 departments and agencies. Building on a wide range of work already underway (including Directgov and the National Identity Service), it aims to deliver a common framework for the use and handling of individuals’ identity information.

Source: Identity & Passport Service
Hat tip: Improbulus

A blogger who wrote an article imagining the kidnap, rape and murder of the pop group Girls Aloud was cleared of obscenity today.
… faced prosecution after writing a 12-page blog called Girls (Scream) Aloud on a fantasy pornography site.
…
Judge Esmond Faulks returned a not guilty verdict to the charge of publishing an obscene article

Source: The Guardian

“Bang. That makes a hat-trick of Ideal-Government agenda nails hit on the head by Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition this week. Liam Maxwell’s CPS pamphlet ‘It’s ours - Why we, not government, must own our data” is a must-read. And a tonic.

…

As Maxwell sets it out:

A clear choice is emerging for the future of government IT:

− Either to continue with the Transformational Government
agenda. This relies on the State holding, in the words of the
Treasury’s adviser, a “deep truth about the citizen, based
on their behaviour, experiences, beliefs, needs and rights”,
with huge centralised databases directing public services
to the point of need (as judged by the State).

− Or to abandon expensive and failing centralised IT
projects and yield control of personal information to
individual citizens. This is the approach that has been
increasingly effective in the private sector.

Source: Ideal Government

Facebook is hiring lobbyists to push its agenda on internet privacy and data sharing in Brussels and Washington, as the social networking site attempts to increase its influence with authorities around the world.

The company has appointed Richard Allan, who was previously the head of European regulatory affairs for the technology giant Cisco, to lead its efforts in lobbying EU governments.
…
According to Chris Kelly, the Californian web company’s chief privacy officer, the five-year-old startup has been engaging in talks with government officials in various countries for some time, but its growing size and importance means it is essential they “understand our philosophy”.

Source: guardian.co.uk

The Commission has put together a legislative package “to establish a Regulatory Agency responsible for the long-term operational management of the second-generation Schengen Information System (SIS II), Visa Information System (VIS) and EURODAC”.

“Schengen Information System (SIS) II will replace the existing Schengen Information System (SIS 1+) and will facilitate the exchange of information on persons and objects between national authorities responsible, inter alia, for border controls and other customs and police checks.” SIS II will likely be extended to include biometric data.

Source: The Register

An Ericsson executive says all new mobile phones sold in 2010 will include an RFID chip that will allow owners to open their car or house door with their phone. A handy feature, no doubt, for some people. But the executive says the chip might also be used by credit card companies to track the location of cardholders to cut down on fraud.

Source: Wired

Hat tip: Ryan

The government should scrap two key IT projects and recast them in a way that fits a truly digital Britain, says Microsoft’s former national technology officer for the UK.

Jerry Fishenden, who last week left Microsoft after 12 years, said the national ID cards scheme and the Interception Modernisation Programme, otherwise known as the government’s Big Brother database, reflected an out-of-date understanding of what the digital world was truly about.

Fishenden said the privacy and security of personal data on the web was the crucial issue facing society as more and more information is stored in digital format.

Source: ComputerWeekly.com

The European Commission is to investigate whether or not people have the right to disappear from the ever-more pervasive digital networks that surround them.

The Commission has expressed concern about the privacy implications of personally-identifying technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID) chips. It said that it is important to discuss whether or not people should be able to disappear from networks.

Source: Out-law.com

The privacy regulator for European Union bodies will increase the number of on-the-spot checks of EU bodies and agencies to ensure that they are complying with data protection law, it has said.

The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), which monitors EU bodies for data protection compliance and advises them on policy, said that it will increase its use of spot checks, but that it was happy with the progress of EU bodies in complying with the law.

The EDPS has produced a report on how well EU bodies and agencies are compying with data protection law. The report found that there had been a marked improvement since the first such report last year.

Source: Out-law.com

An Italian court on Tuesday postponed the trial against four Google executives accused of defamation and violating privacy for allowing a video to be posted online showing an autistic youth being abused.

All four deny wrongdoing. The case could set the tone for new limits on sharing videos and other content on the Web.

Google says the case violates EU rules by trying to place responsibility on providers for content uploaded by users.

Source: Associated Press