Government proposals for a £224m database containing
details of every child in the UK will divert scarce resources away
from children and create a surveillance culture, according to a
report published today by the information
commissioner.
The report criticises government plans to create a Children’s
Index – a network of databases which will hold information on every
child from birth to age 18 – arguing it will waste millions of
pounds and discriminate against children rather than helping
them.
The report, written by the Foundation for Information Policy
Research, a group of experts in information technology, law and
child protection, also raises questions about the security of the
index, which will be accessible to 400,000 civil servants.
The effect of the database could be counter-productive, it
argues, leading to young people from difficult backgrounds being
treated as potential delinquents, in what could effectively become
a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The authors accuse the agencies involved in creating the index
of making a “cavalier interpretation” of data protection and
privacy law.
The report concludes that proposals to collect details on the
sexual activity of 16 to 18-year-olds are in breach of human rights
laws.
It also condemns agencies that obtain personal data on young
people by coercive means, by implying they will lose access to
services if they do not consent to hand their data over, as acting
unlawfully.
The experts conclude that the creation of the index, together
with a proliferation of education and youth-justice systems,
present a “serious regulatory challenge”.
“Because of the scope and complexity of the proposed collection
of sensitive data, there is no doubt that data protection law (and
human rights law) will be broken,” it says.
Jonathan Bamford, assistant information commissioner, said that
the growth in information held about children needed to be looked
at carefully.
“Just because technology means that things can be done with
personal information, it does not always follow that they should be
done. Public trust and confidence will be lost if there is
excessive unwarranted intrusion into family life,” he said.
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