Author: info@amberhawk.com

I missed “Data Protection Day” (like the rest of the population) so I thought I would take the opportunity to express belated support by reiterating my great admiration for the Government’s Identity Card scheme, especially as the Card has been promoted to young adults in London this week. As readers know, I am a keen supporter of the ID Card. They are such a wonderful idea that I aim to get as many as I can. My comments relate to

I assume data protection officers are telling their employers about the Monetary Penalty Notice when it arrives on April 6th. Indeed, the first hapless data controller who loses unencrypted confidential or sensitive personal data can be expected to gain a special place in UK data protection history. So it might be worth mentioning that being first in this category will be remembered; "numero uno" is a PR disaster in the making. If you look at the Commissioner’s web-site you find several examples

I think the provisions in the Crime and Security Bill that relate to DNA retention are not intended to be scrutinised properly. It is probably the most difficult Bill I have read. In fact, if I am honest, I have given up; I have decided to “get out more” and read my backlog of Decision Notices. First, the DNA provisions in the Bill are all expressed as amendments to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), itself heavily amended

I am taking the opportunity to post on the blog a response from Ken Anderson, Assistant Commissioner, Privacy, Office of the Information & Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, Canada following my comments on Privacy by Design (PbD). There is in fact two letters – the earlier of which I will post as a comment to this blog. Just to set the scene re my concerns re PbD (which I think resemble the discussions on nuclear disarmament in the 1970s). In the Nixon-Brezhnev/Kosygin era,

“The way to hell is paved with good intentions” is a well known English saying. I am convinced that it applies to the claim that one can have "security and privacy" by adopting Privacy by Design (PbD) techniques. For example, Dr Cavoukian in her document on the use of whole body scanners at airports (see last week’s blog – 6th Jan) states that a PbD implementation “can satisfy security requirements without sacrificing (and perhaps enhancing) passenger privacy”. At one level

Dr. Anne Cavoukian, the Privacy Commissioner for Ontario, is a leading expert on Privacy by Design and the use of technology to protect privacy. Last year, she published a report into “Whole Body Imaging in Airport Scanners” which has become especially prescient as Gordon Brown rushes to introduce the technology into UK Airports. In her report (reference at end), Dr Cavoukian states that the “privacy-invasive potential” of these scanners can be addressed if privacy enhancing techniques are designed into the