|
Top Dog
News Hound is
Offline:
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 1,298
|
What the government knows about you
So just what do UK government departments know about you? The records held on various databases across the country smack of the very unnerving novel '1984' as written by George Orwell, and the desire of a very neurotic totalitarianism state to know everything about everyone
To anyone who has ever wondered what is held on record by these bungling departments, here are the figures:
Work
One of the government's largest databases is the Department for Work and Pensions' customer information service (CIS), which contains detailed information on 85 million people, living and dead. The CIS records details such as employment, ethnicity, immigration status, workplace disputes and information on people who live at the same address
Income
A host of financial and personal information is held under the umbrella of HMRC, which lost the two CDs containing 25m records. Systems from organisations such as the revenue and the Child Support Agency are centralised and operated by the outsourcing company CapGemini, which recently extended its contract with HMRC until 2018. That deal is now worth £8bn
Travel
The Passport Agency, now under the direct control of the Home Office, holds about 70m records of British passports, active and cancelled. Not only your trips abroad, but also where you live. The Foreign Office also holds details of visa applications, some compromised this year when a subcontracting company leaked information from the British high commission in India
Police records
The police national computer, based in Hendon, north London, holds nearly 100m pieces of information such as criminal records and details of arrests. As a result of the Bichard inquiry into the Soham murders, there is now greater sharing of this information between the 43 police forces in England and Wales
Medical details
The £12bn scheme to renovate NHS computer systems is the largest public sector IT project in the world. At its heart is the creation of a digital file containing details of medical history, GP and hospital visits and information about family members. Campaigners are concerned that NHS employees will have unfettered access to deeply private information
Transport
With a central register of everybody who holds a driving licence, the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency is regarded as having one of the most accurate databases in government. More than 42 million people are registered, including those with provisional driving licences, as well as 33m individual vehicles and links to contact details and insurance information
DNA
Britain's DNA database is the largest in the world, with more than 4m samples gathered from anybody who is arrested in the UK. The digitised bank of information contains only a small identifying string of genetic code, rather than a person's entire DNA sequence, though complete samples are kept in storage in case of future developments
Children
Contactpoint, a cross-department information sharing programme, holds the names, addresses and personal details of all children in England. It can also contain information on sexual history, mental health and substance abuse. The database can be accessed over the internet by authorised workers in schools, the NHS or social services, as well as some voluntary groups
Let's be honest, with friends like these who needs enemies!!!
Information sourced from the Guardian website rather than any state departments possibly because it was more accurate!
__________________
Don't suffer crap service in silence - Post your complaint on here www.crapservice.co.uk 
|
Re: What the government knows about you
Hybrid Mode
