Take care of data and it will take care of you
27 February 2008
Violent murderers have been convicted thanks to DNA evidence, but that does not justify a universal database.
This week, Steve Wright, 'the Suffolk Strangler' and Mark Dixie who mudered model Sally Ann Bowman have been convicted, thanks to DNA evidence and locked up. Senior police are now calling for a universal DNA database. Leaving aside the argument about the value of DNA, Levi Bellfield, who murdered at least two women as they got off buses in south west London, was convicted without it, there are other worries about this request.
If you need an example of a blasé attitude to safeguarding information, what was the Crown Prosecution Service thinking when it left a disk with 4,000 DNA profiles from Dutch police on the desk of someone on sick leave for over a year? There were 15 matches, i.e 15 people wanted by police that could have been locked up. Gordon Brown confirmed 11 of those have committed offences and that police are now urgently looking for the individuals, suspected of crimes including murder and rape. Oh, so now it’s urgent.
If a gift of DNA information from other police forces that can bump up your clear-up rates, can’t be shown due diligence, what will happen when the same people get hold of DNA profiles of those who haven’t even got a parking ticket?
Another stumbling block for me is what benefit will there be when NI numbers and other personal details are stored on an ID card anyway? Protect me? How? Spain had ID cards in 2004, but it didn’t stop the Madrid train bombings.
The case for information about you and I goes further. The call for ID cards has not gone away, but with this government’s track record, I wouldn’t let them handle a pack of cards, let alone ID cards.
Now, I can be forgetful. I forget when the children have to take swimming kits to school, I forget where I put my sunglasses…However, I have never misplaced my bank account details, my PIN or my password. More importantly, I have never let anyone else looks after them.
I am uber-careful, even prickly, about how much information I give, especially in shops. The sales assistants are usually huffy when I ask why they need some piece of information and insist on leaving boxes on forms blank unless they can justify the request.
However careful I am though, my efforts are pointless if those who collect, share and store this data treat it like a pair of my sunglasses! Although data can be encrypted in numerous, and secure ways, it takes just one numpty to make other people’s safeguards null and void. It reminds me of the old joke: “ So, Johnny, where’s the shockproof, waterproof, scratch-resistant, quartz-accurate watch I got you for Christmas?” Johnny: “I’ve lost it.”
In October, HM Revenue and Customs lost national insurance and bank details of 25million people when two CDs went missing in the post. Yes, that’s the value that HMRC thought to attach to this information, not courier it, not deliver it personally; stick in the post, what can possibly go wrong? The disks were estimated to be worth $1.5billion to criminals. My Mum won’t even risk putting a £10 note in a birthday card in the post and she’s not in charge of the nation’s safety.
What was most infuriating was that people who had not been careless were advised to pay fees to credit agencies to see if our data had been used to affect our credit record. So HMRC loses my information and it costs me £6 to £10 a pop to see if I have been a victim of identity theft, despite my efforts to safeguard the information myself.
It was down to those receiving child benefits to monitor their bank accounts and to change passwords, even though they were exposed to potential fraud by a government department. At the time, Gordon Brown said a review was in place. Phew, it won’t happen again....Until November. Then, details of three million British learner drivers were lost. This time, names, address and phones numbers, enough for most identity thieves. Good job October's lesson sunk in.
The message from those in authority seems to be the individual has to be vigilant with personal information. I agree and I am. Only trouble is, I am more worried about Whitehall than opportunist criminals.
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