Big Brother Watch

Police databases: how over 900 staff abuse their access

For the first time, Big Brother Watch has uncovered the true extent to which Police abuse their access to confidential databases. 

This report follows allegations yesterday that former Downing Street Head of Communications Andy Coulson paid the Police in order to receive privileged information.

Between 2007 and 2010:

• 243 Police officers and staff received criminal convictions for breaching the Data Protection Act (DPA).
• 98 Police officers and staff had their employment terminated for breaching the DPA.
• 904 Police officers and staff were subjected to internal disciplinary procedures for breaching the DPA.

A full breakdown of results by local police authority can be found here.

Commenting on the research findings Daniel Hamilton, Director of Big Brother Watch said:

“The allegations surrounding Andy Coulson are just the tip of the iceberg.

“It’s astonishing to think that 904 Police officers and support staff across England have faced disciplinary action for abusing their access to confidential systems. 243 have received criminal convictions for their actions, while 98 have lost their jobs.

“Our investigation shows that not only have Police employees been found to have run background records checks on friends and possible partners, but some have been convicted for passing sensitive information to criminal gangs and drug dealers.  This is at best hugely intrusive and, at worse, downright dangerous.

“Police forces must adopt a zero tolerance approach to this kind of behaviour.  Those found guilty of abusing their position should be sacked on the spot.”

Key examples

• In Merseyside alone, 208 officers and Police staff received criminal convictions for breaching the DPA since 2007.

• The areas with the largest number of officers and Police staff who had their employment terminated for DPA breaches since 2007 were: Kent (10), Merseyside (7), West Midlands (7), Northumbria (6), Derbyshire (5) and Humberside (5).

• The areas with the largest number of officers and Police staff subjected to internal disciplinary procedures for DPA breaches since 2007 were: Merseyside (208), West Midlands (83), Humberside (62), South Yorkshire (42), and Northumbria (39).

Media Contact

For broadcast interviews or further enquiries, please contact:

Daniel Hamilton
Director, Big Brother Watch
07810 785 924
020 7340 6030

London riots: comfortingly, the CCTV images will show from many angles just how bad the damage was

As I write, riots are raging in many parts of the capital.

In amongst the principled arguments against excessive surveillance, we at Big Brother Watch have always mounted two additional, practical points: that all this surveillance often doesn't work, and it absorbs capital that might have been spent in other, more productive ways.

Both authoritarian opponents and purists on our own side have sometimes criticised us for this. But surely it's obvious that:

1) Not one aspect of our ubiquitous surveillance network, erected to watch all of us all the time, just in case, has done anything to protect Londoners in this, our hour of greatest need; and

2) In an environment in which only a finite pot of capital exists to spend on any given portfolio, that tremendously expensive network soaked up vast amounts of capital - at least some of which might have been spent on training more police officers to deal with these situations?

By Alex Deane

MPs table motion for 'internet bill of rights'

A cross-party collection of MPs have tabled an early day motion calling for new data protection controls to protect people against the rise in targeted advertising. The thirteen MPs signed the Commons motion which suggests an ‘internet bill of rights’ along with giving more power to the Information Commissioner’s Office to deal with privacy issues.

This follows widespread concern that the WPP group, a global advertising and marketing company, may have profiles of up to half a billion internet users, which the motion suggests may include almost all British citizens. They also criticise the behaviour of Google during the Street View project, where private wi-fi data was collected by the fleet of cars supposedly taking pictures for mapping.

Karen Fraser, the director at advertising think-tank, Credos said:

"People see the value in more relevant – and possibly fewer -- ads but are setting the same privacy boundaries on-line as in ‘real’ life.  If advertising is seen to be breaking those boundaries - interrupting conversations or reading another person’s diary – there is a very real risk of alienating people."

After the ICO allowed websites an entire year to conform with European regulations concerning cookies, it's good to see MPs ensuring privacy issues are debated in parliament.

European Parliament approves reforms to Data Protection Directive

Following the publishing of the ICO’s annual report this morning, the European Parliament has approved reforms to the Commission’s Data Protection Directive of 1995. These are designed to give more control to individuals over any information held on them by organisations and companies, as well as placing a responsibility on those bodies to inform people of any data breaches which occur involving their personal information.

Axel Voss, the German MEP, wrote the report for the European Parliament, which had demanded more accountability from businesses with regards to data breaches. E.U. citizens will now be able to delete, correct or block their information easily.

The EU Justice Commisioner, Viviane Reding, claimed: “Putting people back in control of their personal data is a priority for me.”

By the end of the year the European Commission is expected to finalise new legislation to dramatically modernise European data protection rules.

Information Commissioner complains that most businesses refuse data protection audits

The Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, appeared on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme this morning to discuss the unwillingness of private companies to accept free data protection audits from the ICO. In their annual report, released today, the ICO revealed around a third of the 603 breaches reported in the 2010/11 period occurred in the private sector.

Although public bodies make up the majority of the breaches, they are obligated to report them, unlike the private sector. A mere 19% of business who were contacted during the period agreed to an audit, this compares to 71% in the public sector.

Mr Graham said:

“Lenders, general businesses and direct marketing companies account for almost a third of total complaints to the ICO, and businesses were the top sector for reporting data security breaches to us last year.”

“Despite this, many of them are still resisting our offer to undergo audits. We've written to organisations we consider to be high risk, but the response has been disappointing.”

Although the ICO consider undergoing an audit to be a ‘badge of honour’, businesses appear to view them as invasive, time-consuming and worthless. It is clear that the current voluntary system of audits is not working, and an alternative is necessary to reduce data breaches.

Pill designed to help quit smoking may increase risk of heart problems

A previously controversial pill designed to help people quit smoking has been accused of raising the risk of heart problems in its users. Varenicline, which is supplied under the brand name of Champix, has been linked to depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts on numerous occasions but is still sold today. It is used by around 140,000 people in Britain and accounted for one million prescriptions in 2010.    

A study by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Maryland utilised 14 studies into the drug, containing over 8,000 smokers. 52 of 4,908 using Champix suffered cardiac problems, compared to 27 people of the 3,308 who were taking placebos. In reality this is only an increase from 0.82% to 1.06%, less than a quarter of a percent.

Dr Sonal Singh, from, said:

“This is just like driving a car without brakes. Going forward, I don’t know how we will convince our patients to take Champix for what, to increase your risk for heart attack?... People should be concerned. They don’t need Chantix to quit and this is another reason to avoid Chantix all together.”

“People want to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease but in this case they're taking a drug that increases the risk for the problems they're trying to avoid. They should be concerned.”

With the large amount of risks now associated with Champix, it seems very strange that it is still be prescriped to so many people in Britain.

The research has been challenged by the Velvet Glove blog here.

Dr Miguel-Angel Meizoso and the European Arrest Warrant

At Big Brother Watch, we have long warned about the pernicious nature of the European Arrest Warrant and how it can be misused to persecute those who have either commuted no crime at all or an offence so minor that international extradition would be inappropriate.

Alex Deane, a member of the Big Brother Watch Advisory Council has written to the Home Secretary in order to seek clarifications from her surrounding the case of Dr Migel-Angel Meizoso, a Spanish national whose extradition is currently being sought by his home nation:

"I am writing to draw your attention to the case of Dr. Miguel-Angel Meizoso, the Spanish citizen who has claimed political asylum on 27 June 2011. It is, of course, very unusual for an EU national to claim asylum; especially for someone who, like Dr. Meizoso, has lived in this country for the past 20 years. Furthermore, it is an EU mechanism - the European Arrest Warrant - that he is asking protection from.

"We at Big Brother Watch are gravely concerned about the EAW regime and other threats to civil liberties arising from the European Union. We welcome the fact that the government has recognised that EAW system is open to abuse and commissioned the independent review led by Sir Scott Baker.

"In these circumstances, it is my view that Dr. Meizoso's case raises issues of great public importance, and the Big Brother Watch intends to follow it closely. We are confident that you will give his asylum claim a fair and careful consideration."

We will keep you in touch with this case, including the response we receive from the Home Secretary Theresa May MP.

The harrowing consequences of the Milly Dowler phone-hacking allegations: Blog by Frank Manning

Until yesterday, the News of the World phone-hacking fiasco had failed to truly enter the national consciousness. The majority of print media in Britain were keen to avoid reporting on it, and most of the ‘victims’ were celebrities whose regular publicity-seeking appearances in newspapers and magazines can sometimes be seen as a rejection of their own privacy rights . The revelation that the mobile phone of the kidnapped teenager Milly Dowler could have been hacked has changed the situation dramatically.

What is alleged to have happened goes beyond the basic issues of privacy. By deleting messages from her mobile, those responsible for the hacking were effectively destroying evidence and tampering with an investigation, with the sole purpose of finding a story to sell papers and further their career.

Police always monitor voice messages left on victims’ phones as they can be vital for an investigation. Perpetrators can sometimes leave messages of concern to try and exonerate themselves. Deleting them just to make space for more messages and therefore the possibility of more stories could have meant the murderer escaping capture.

When a child goes missing, parents and family will cling to any possibility of hope or any hint of life. Milly Dowler’s parents believed their daughter must have been alive when they discovered messages had been deleted, even going so far as to describe their remote feelings of optimism to, in a macabre irony, the News of the World.

Someone at the paper involved in the hacking must have known it removed this possibility, yet they did nothing to inform the family about this, allowing the pain and suffering to continue unabated.

The lawyer for the Dowler family has released the following statement:

“It is distress heaped upon tragedy to learn that the News of the World had no humanity at such a terrible time. The fact that they were prepared to act in such a heinous way that could have jeopardised the police investigation and give them false hope is despicable.”

At the time, Surrey police were suspicious of the information the media were receiving with regards to the case, however they were more concerned with finding the missing girl so these suspicions were never followed up on.

This is clearly not a case of one rogue reporter acting on their own, this level of espionage must have been authorised by someone with a high level of responsibility. The police investigation will seek to determine quite how far up the hierarchy this conspiracy went.

This entire fiasco began primarily as political point scoring between the British print media. The Guardian, initially seeing the phone-hacking scandal as a perfect opportunity to attack Rupert Murdoch’s News International empire, have now uncovered something far more important than the idiosyncrasies of Sienna Miller’s love life, or whatever messages Andy Gray ever received from Richard Keys. The Sun and the News of the World are still attempting to bury it today in the hope that it will disappear, but public feeling has become vociferous overnight, and if any of these allegations are proved to be true, they will be forced into one of the most grovelling apologies ever witnessed.

If elements of the British media are willing to stoop so low as to hack into the messages of a kidnapped teenager for profit then there is clearly the possibility that something similar has occurred before. Whatever the results of the investigation are, it seems unlikely the British media will be the same afterwards.

Frank Manning tweets at @BillyManning

Microsoft reveals cloud data may be accessed by US law enforcement

Microsoft has revealed that EU users of its upcoming cloud services may have their personal information intercepted by US law enforcers. Because of the USA Patriot Act, law enforcement authorities in the US have the right to access the personal data which is held by US-based companies.

In a statement, Microsoft explained:

“In a limited number of circumstances, Microsoft may need to disclose data without your prior consent, including as needed to satisfy legal requirements, or to protect the rights or property of Microsoft or others (including the enforcement of agreements or policies governing the use of the service).”

Cloud services give consumers access to their files anywhere they can access the internet. This can be hugely useful, but the risk of data loss and hacking is always a possibility and it seems inevitable that security will be breached by hackers as well as US law enforcement

Links of the day Monday 4th July 2011

Please note these are articles and opinions we found interesting, however they do not necessarily represent the views of Big Brother Watch

Councillors told to register as data controllers

Spam down as scammers move elsewhere

RIPA: 2010 annual report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner

Ronald Reagan Honoured With London Statue

Happy Birthday America!

Sure it's hilarious but you can't blame repetitious Ed

Government moves to reduce red tape around school field trips

In a sensible attempt to reduce the bureaucracy which makes school trips difficult to organise, the Government is attempting to simplify the guidelines, however teaching unions have criticised the move. The Department for Education is publishing new guidance for school staff, reducing the length of the guidelines from a staggering 150 pages to a more manageable 8.

Over recent years the guidelines have expanded again and again due to bureaucracy and a fear of civil litigation. Schools are loath to organise trips due to the complex nature of the paperwork involved and the risk of being sued if an accident occurs. Even the Health and Safety Executive itself is in favour of a change in the guidelines. They hope it will dispel some of the legal ‘myths’ which they are often accused of.

Chris Grayling, Employment minister, said:

“We've got a crazy situation at the moment where, very often, headteachers and teachers think that actually the rules are such that it's not a good idea to plan school trips.”

“There's too much bureaucracy, too many health and safety rules and a risk of prosecution if something goes wrong. There is no reason - and never was - why children should be prevented from going on school trips by over-enthusiastic misinterpretation of rules.”

General Secretary of the teaching union NASUWT, Chris Keates said:

“The decision to scrap over 140 pages of guidance is potentially reckless and could increase litigation against schools and teachers. There is no evidence demonstrating the need for the previous guidance to be abandoned, and no educational reason for doing so. The dilution of guidance for schools is likely to reduce rather than increase the number of educational visits.”

This move to introduce sensible changes and allow children to go on more school trips should be applauded rather than criticised. Only two legal cases have been brought against schools for a breach of health and safety law on a school trip in the last five years, so any measure which removes time-wasting bureaucracy and allows teachers to spend more time with their pupils should be commended.