More humiliation for the Information Commissioner

You can see our position on the ICO elsewhere - in short, it's not fit for purpose. But this new story takes the biscuit.

The great Rob Halfon MP has extracted some very telling information about the ICO's non-investigation of Google over the Wi-Fi spy affair, using non-techies to do so. Do read the piece in that link - it's pretty devastating.

Let's be frank. The Information Commissioner blundered badly when he sent two non-technical personnel to investigate the HQ of one of the world’s most high-tech companies.

He clearly knows this, as his office refused to release the information about their lack of proper qualifications to Big Brother Watch when we submitted a Freedom of Information request about it (I'm happy to provide a copy of the FOI to anyone who wants it).

We’re now in an absurd situation. The Commissioner fails to police the worst offender in his patch, and then dodges requests for information about his “investigation” until Parliament itself obliges him to ‘fess up about incompetence – and this is the Commissioner supposed to bring transparency to public life!

By Alex Deane

Comments

[Andrew Ampers Taylor]

I usually reach a state of despair when a Conservative Government nears the end of its second term.

Now the Coalition is not even into the end of their first full year, I am beginning to despair for these islands.

Is there nobody in the Cabinet with "common sense".

I think I know what the problem is. If we rename "common" sense to "superior sense" Politicians may be more quick to find some?

Ampers.

[dispair]

I wonder if the audit that the ICO is going to carry out on Google will be carried out by appropriately qualified auditors?

[startledcod]

If only Eric Pickles were the man in charge the ICO would probably have gone by now. Summary execution is the answer.

One has to answer just what the ICO's thinking was; serisouly what were they thinking?

[alastair]

Only ICO was right. BBW is wrong on this, and has been all along.

If you value privacy, the only good thing to do with the data is to delete it. Period.