Government departments and businesses face increased scrutiny
into the way they collect and use personal data if the government
adopts the recommendations from a
House of Lords report published today.
Lord Goodlad, chairman of the House of Lords' constitution
committee, said the huge rise in surveillance and data collection
by the state and other organisations risked undermining the
traditions of privacy and individual freedom which were vital for
democracy.
The committee spent nearly a year studying the "pervasive and
routine" electronic surveillance and collection and processing of
personal information.
Its report,
Surveillance: Citizens and the State, follows an earlier report
from the information commissioner on the rise of " the surveillance
state".
The committee looked into government data collection schemes
such as the National DNA Database (NDNAD), the NHS Spine for
electronic health care records, the children's database, and the
national ID card and government plans to share data more between
departments.
"If the public are to trust that information about them is not
being improperly used, there should be much more openness about
what data is collected, by whom and how it is used," Goodlad
said.
"There can be no justification for this gradual but incessant
creep towards every detail about us being recorded and pored over
by the state."
The report criticises the rise in surveillance and data
collection by the state and private sector. The lords said it
"risks undermining the fundamental relationship between the state
and citizens, which is the cornerstone of democracy and good
governance".
The Lords made 44 recommendations to protect individuals from
invasions of their privacy. They said privacy is an "essential
prerequisite to the exercise of individual freedom".
The executive, government agencies and other public bodies
should use "restraint" in the use of surveillance and data
collection, the report said.
The Lords said the UK led the world in the use of CCTV to watch
citizens, with some four million cameras in use. It also had over
7% of its citizens - more than any other country - on record in the
National DNA database.
The report said the DNA database potentially infringed civil
liberties and could be used for "malign purposes" in future. The
government is expected to comply quickly with the recent European
Court of Human Rights decision that the DNA profiles of
non-convicts be deleted from the NDNAD, the report said.
The Lords said the public is often unaware of the vast amount of
information about them that organisations hold and share. They said
government and local authorities should help citizens understand
the privacy issues for themselves and society that may result from
this.
They wanted central and local government to work with the
Information Commissioner's Office to raise public understanding of
the issues.
The committee called local authorities' use of surveillance
powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act to spy on
the public over issues such as littering and to check residential
status over school applications "a clear misuse of power".
"The information commissioner should now be given the powers he
needs both to investigate private sector organisations' use of
personal data in the same way that he can for the public sector,
and to have more involvement in scrutinising moves by the public
sector to expand its surveillance activities," he said.
"Companies that refuse access to the information commissioner
may well have something to hide," they said.
Responding to the report, a Home Office spokeswoman said the
government had been clear to balance the interests of the state
with those of people on privacy.
"The government has been clear that ... surveillance or data
collection should only be used where it is necessary and
proportionate," she said.
She said CCTV and DNA were essential crime fighting tools that
had revolutionised police investigations. "The home secretary has
already set out new common sense standards for use of investigatory
powers and retention of DNA profiles and has announced a
consultation on the use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers
Act to open a reasoned debate about all these issues." she
said.
Main Lords' recommendations requiring judicial oversight of
investigations under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act
2000 (RIPA), which allows access to internet, e-mail and telephone
data:
Compensation to be paid to those who were watched unlawfully
under RIPA
Reconsider whether local authorities should use RIPA powers, and
if so, under what circumstances
Change the Data Protection Act 1998 to force government
departments to produce an independent, publicly available privacy
impact assessment (PIA) before they adopt any new data collection
or processing scheme
Information commissioner to vet and approve PIAs
A new bill should replace the existing rules that govern the DNA
database with great oversight
DNA samples given voluntarily in investigations should be
deleted once an inquiry is closed
Legally binding codes of practice for all CCTV schemes
Set up a parliamentary joint committee on surveillance and data
powers of the state
Any new legislation that would expand surveillance or data
processing powers should be scrutinised
Information commissioner should have the same powers to inspect
private sector organisations as it has for the public sector.