UK organisations should always consider the impact on an
individual's privacy when developing new IT systems, says theInformation Commissioner's
Office.
Assistant information commissioner Jonathan Bamford said that
for people to have trust in organisations, they need to be
confident their personal information is held securely.
He said it is essential there are safeguards to minimise
intrusion into people's lives before introducing systems that could
promote a surveillance society.
The call coincides with the ICO's launch of the latest version
of the
Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) handbook to help organisations
address the risks to privacy.
Bamford said the PIA handbook will help organisations ensure
privacy safeguards are built into systems at the outset "rather
than bolted on as an inadequate and expensive afterthought".
It is mandatory for all central government departments and their
agencies to adopt PIAs when developing new IT systems.
The measure was introduced by the Home Office after the
HM Revenue and Customs data breach in November 2007.