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English School Data Available to Private Firms

posted by LaminatorX on Tuesday April 29 2014, @01:25PM   Printer-friendly
from the Privatise-U dept.

lhsi writes:

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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  • (Score: 1) by Webweasel on Wednesday April 30 2014, @08:20AM

    by Webweasel (567) on Wednesday April 30 2014, @08:20AM (#38014) Homepage Journal

    Yup, your pretty much spot on.

    I guess my objection is a reflection of my own dealings with the police over the years. I have never been in serious trouble, but the few encounters I have had have been rather unpleasant. Being ignored after being mugged. Being ignored when my car is broken into. Being screamed at for driving slightly to fast. Being stopped in traffic for 2 hours on the A2 so I can be told my fog lights are on and harassed when pointing out that the highway code says fog lights are yellow lenses and what I have are driving lights. Yeah traffic cops don't even know the law. Chief Wigum says "The police have no power to help you, only punish you" and that's pretty much my experience too.

    I'm in the don't talk to the police, don't co-operate, and am in the "are you detaining me or am I free to go?" camp.

    Its getting the balancing act right. I should be able to trust the police. I should be able to encourage my kids to trust the police. Life experience taught me this is the wrong approach, so unfortunately I cannot encourage my kids to trust them either. I should reach my kids to respect the police, but then the police should be respectable.

    I actually know the liaison officer and the local PCSO's quite well. My Dad is active on the local council and lead officer of our local retained fire service. I have a good relationship with these guys, but I still don't trust them and am very careful what I say around them.

    Were way off topic now, but my real concern is the acceptance that it's OK to give up biometric data. If 8 year old's think the school and police should have their finger prints, then they accept that invasion of privacy without question. By the time they reach adulthood, its so accepted as normal behavior that it becomes hard to convince them otherwise. "It's fine, its always been like this". That's what really concerns me.

    --
    Priyom.org Number stations, Russian Military radio. "You are a bad, bad man. Do you have any other virtues?"-Runaway1956