open Democracy News Analysis - The value of information, Sandra Bell - Comments

opendemocracy on "The value of information"

opendemocracy — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 20:16:42 +0000

I'd go further than Luca - Sandra Bell's analysis suggests that we should move to "information Subsidiarity". This would say something like: - have the information kept at the level at which it is most valuable (within confines of general legality) - have that level be made aware of every legally mandated access to it - have that level give permission for every non-legally mandated level I would love it if actions such as these led to a system where most personal information was held by the individual; where mandatory access was possible but not without notification; and where individuals could lock down any non-mandatory requests. Don't destroy the data - distribute the database. Tony

luca on "The value of information"

luca — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 14:02:08 +0000

Have I missed something or is there a strange inversion of rights taking place here. Is it my data or the state's? As we race towards a networked future, we should stop to consider our rights as "citizens", both physical and virtual, and enshrine in law the principle that all data can only ever be held "in trust" by the state or any other agency and organisation but can only ever "belong" to the individual. And any state data project should acknowledge the right of any individual to opt in or out of any proposed data exchange (call this an old-fashioned "vote", if you must). It would also guarantee that no-one dealing with the data of others could ever justify choosing the less secure option on the basis of cost, because it would be illegal to do so. The fact that after the data loss by the British state, the onus for following up on the status of their information was left to the victims of this blunder says volumes about where the citizen's rights come in this virtual pecking order. Each person affected should have been granted immediate access to their data and offered a clear method of updating it -- the only way to guarantee the lost disks would prove useless to any potential fraudster.

The value of information, Sandra Bell

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 15:57:28 +0000

The loss in the post of two unencrypted compact discs containing sensitive personal data of 25 million British citizens by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has sparked a major debate on information assurance. However, this debate is long overdue and it is regrettable that it has taken a mistake of this proportion to bring the issue to the fore.

The current emphasis is, quite rightly, being placed on damage limitation and ensuring the same error does not happen again. However, this problem runs much deeper than making sure procedures are followed. The fundamental problem is that there is no common agreement on the value of the information we hold on one another. Until we have such a common agreement then misjudgments such as this will continue to occur.

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