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Wired reports on the opening to third parties of England's national-pupil-database:
Data relating to every school pupil in England is now available for use by private companies thanks to a change in legislation implemented last year. The move is part of a wider government initiative to "marketise" data, which includes initiatives such as the much-criticised Care.data and the selling off of taxpayer data by HMRC.
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English School Data Available to Private Firms
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Tuesday After Lunch is the cosmic time of the week.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by AnonTechie on Tuesday April 29 2014, @01:46PM
I think governments the world over need to ensure the privacy of individual data. Time and again it has been proven that personal data has been mis-used by greedy, seedy and unscrupulous advertisers. When will (if at all) the authorities learn that !! In the UK, there have been so many reported breaches of NHS records, in the past, which, did not end well for the patients.
Albert Einstein - "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
(Score: 2) by Sir Garlon on Tuesday April 29 2014, @01:57PM
Governments will ensure privacy when and only when voters demand it and hold the elected officials accountable for results.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday April 29 2014, @02:16PM
A prerequisite would be the party leaders permitting the discussion to happen.
If its not permitted to be a campaign issue, it won't be a campaign issue, and there will be no voter input.
This is actually fairly cheap to purchase.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Angry Jesus on Tuesday April 29 2014, @02:06PM
> In the UK, there have been so many reported breaches of NHS records,
> in the past, which, did not end well for the patients.
I think the problem is the opposite -- that there have been so many data breaches but the harm done as a result is not obvious. In most cases there is no harm, and when there is harm it isn't clearly and obviously connected to the breach. Most people have difficulty "connecting the dots" unless the connection is a single straight line. So unless the harm happens immediately after and directly as a result of the breach, society doesn't pay much attention. Schneier calls this phenomenon the availability heuristic. [schneier.com]
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday April 29 2014, @03:48PM
A concrete example of this would be .com has a ridiculous idea that SS numbers, moms maiden name, my first car, grandfather's nickname, the city name my high school / grade school was located in, street name I lived on as a kid, all that stuff is private and supposedly only I know it.
It is, of course, at this point public knowledge to anyone who cares to look.
(Score: 1) by Buck Feta on Tuesday April 29 2014, @04:03PM
Your rockstar name is your mother's maiden name + the first street you lived on + your social security number.
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- fractious political commentary goes here -
(Score: 2) by emg on Tuesday April 29 2014, @04:28PM
You have to pay for that fat welfare state somehow. Forcing people to hand over data and then selling it is an easy way to increase revenue.