As the saying goes, just because you're paranoid doesn't
mean they're not out to get you - and technology is increasingly
making it easier for big brother find out what you are up
to
Following on the heels of a warning from Richard Thomas, the
UK's Information Commissioner, that Britain is at risk of
“sleepwalking into a surveillance society”, TV reports last
week illustrated a "black box" that can be fitted in your car which
may show the way for the future evaluation of motor insurance
risk.
We are already surrounded by spyware, which is increasingly
attached to anything capable of passing an electric current. It is
rife on the internet and in personal computers, a breakthrough in
lens technology will soon make digital cameras as pervasive as
cheap calculators, and your mobile phone is constantly reporting
your position.
Only last summer a service provider demonstrated to me how good
location-based technology is and how useful it can be. In a
boardroom with a large display screen on the wall, he told me he
would show me where his girlfriend was at that moment.
He typed in her mobile telephone number into the software and
the screen dutifully displayed a map of London, zooming in on a
spot in the Brompton Road, where a dot flashed.
“It is only good for fifty metres accuracy,” he told me, “but
that’s enough for what we need.” Not just the police, then, or the
emergency services but anyone with access to the software can find
out where you’re shopping.
Norwich Union is trialling a scheme among 5,000 policy holders
which will have your car do the reporting. Based on where you
happen to drive and how fast, it will calculate your insurance
exposure and calculate your premiums accordingly.
“Good news for customers” in the shape of cheaper policies, we
are told - but I rather think that there is a profit motive for the
insurers, rather like the congestion charge and speed cameras and
every other device which leverages advances in technology to
squeeze more money from the unhappy consumer.
Like the Information Commissioner I am equally concerned about
how all the data that is routinely captured, detailing our habits,
interests and movements, is managed and shared in this proud new
surveillance society.
We both share the fear that the Home Office’s proposed ID card
scheme will involve the establishment of a national register of
citizens’ personal details that will be accessible to government
departments, with minimal attention to privacy concerns.
There is, for example confusion about the governance of publicly
held information, with vetting and Draconian penalties for abuse by
directly employed personnel of companies or agencies. But there is
often no vetting or penalties for abuse by the staff of the
contractors and subcontractors who run call centres and routinely
enter or access sensitive data for many central and local
government departments and agencies.
As EURIM’s Philip Virgo said, the sorry state of affairs
revealed by the Bichard enquiry is repeated across much of central
and local government. It underlies public concern about ID cards,
particularly the reluctance to believe that they will be anything
other than another spectacular waste of public money. It is also
the prime obstacle to delivery of the efficiency agenda supported
by both government and the opposition.
I would rather not have my activities wirelessly reported back
to my insurer or an office in Whitehall. Where Norwich Union is
concerned, as long as its location-based insurance policies are
voluntary it is a question of personal choice - but such voluntary
schemes soon become mandatory once a profit motive appears - and
before you know it we’ll be submitting to DNA tests for our health
insurance too.
I don’t know anyone, other than David Blunkett, who does not
acknowledge the objections, who trusts business or government to
properly manage and safeguard the increasing volumes of personal
data that are being routinely harvested about all of us.
In fact, I would argue that we are not sleepwalking into an
Orwellian surveillance society; we are rushing headlong into a
technology-spun straightjacket with no true regard for the
consequences.
Setting the world to rights with the collected thoughts and
opinions of leading industry analyst Dr Simon Moores of
Zentelligence.
Acting globally, Zentelligence (Research) advises
governments, suppliers, business and the media on the evolution,
application and delivery of leading-edge technologies, and
specialises in the areas of e-government and
information security.
For further information on Zentelligence and its research,
presentation and analyst services, visitwww.zentelligence.com