14 DAY TRIAL // The UK has recently proposed the creation of a so-called "super database" with the purpose of logging information about every telephone call, text message, and e-mail sent. The thing is that, over the past four years, from 2004 up to this day, the MoD (Ministry of Defense) has officially admitted to losing a total of 658 laptops and 121 USB memory devices. To put things into perspective, the two disks that the British Government managed to lose in the fall of 2007 contained confidential information on almost half the total population in the UK (that would be about 20 million). The question that naturally arises is in regard to the Government's capability of handling such a database.
Sarah Teather, a Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament, comments: "The government are going ahead - to build this giant database for ID cards, and to put all this information into one format. How can they expect us to trust them to keep our personal information safe in their unnecessary and expensive ID card scheme? "
According to this Liberal Democrat, the situation is far from a laughing matter. "It seems that this government simply cannot be trusted with keeping sensitive information safe. It is frightening to think that secret MoD information can be lost or stolen. This shows a shocking degree of incompetence across the entire government," she says.
The UK Government must act responsibly, it must protect the private nature of the information provided to it, and must inform any and all citizens they may be put at risk whenever a data loss incident occurs. Similar incidents occur not only in the UK - however, it was in this part of the world that the most recent took place. Also not long ago, Japan has managed to lose an USB memory device as well.
Richard Thomas, UK Information Commissioner, questions the necessity of the Government collecting so much information about people's private life, information that can be accessed by the police, security services, and other law enforcement and state agencies.
"Before major new databases are launched careful consideration must be given to the impact on individuals' liberties and on society as a whole. Sadly, there have been too many developments where there has not been sufficient openness, transparency or public debate," says Thomas.