How nice to read some, seemingly, positive news for once.
New Nanny (in the shape of the coalition) has decided to shut down Old Nanny's (ZaNuLabour) £224M child database.
This database holds the records of all 11 million children in England, and was launched last year. It holds the names, ages and addresses of all under-18s on a central computerised database, along with the contact details of their parents, schools and GPs.
Aside from the fact it was years behind schedule, over budget, had security flaws and didn't work well, it also gave access to the details of children to hundreds of thousands of teachers, police officers and social workers.
In other words it granted hundreds of thousands of unelected, unknown individuals the right to spy on a very large percentage of the population.
The database is being destroyed "using government-approved security standards and processes".
By they way, the best way to actually destroy a hard disc (in order to ensure that it is never read) is to take a hammer to it!
Let us trust that a new version is not created at some stage in the future.
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"By they way, the best way to actually destroy a hard disc (in order to ensure that it is never read) is to take a hammer to it!"
ReplyDeleteI worked for the dreaded HMCE for a while. The actual approved method of disposing of sensitive data is to overwrite the disk several times with random numbers..THEN take a hammer to it!
...never actually heard of it being done though!
Microsoft Access.......£150
ReplyDeleteFile Encryption Software....£25
All that lovely information...Priceless.
For everything else...There's common sense.
I do hope they do destroy both the database, as well as the information contained therein....I am always a little sceptical when Nanny says she will hand back power or destroy information; information is power and, in my opinion, Nanny always struggles to lessen her level of information or power she holds over us...I wonder if each local Nanny will keep the old information on a local database? I would not be surprised if she did.....As I say, I personally can't see Nanny just destroying all that data.
Hi-Viz...Just say NO!!!!!!
Just laugh at Hi-Viz!!!!!!
I think you'll find that even after multiple passes of random data the latest forensic techniques can still recover information. The read/write heads never pass in exactly the same place, and the tiny bits left at the edge can be read, and the data reconstructed.
ReplyDeleteEven smashing the disk isn't a guarantee, as the remaining bits can be examined by electron microscope!
I think the only totally secure method is to have the entire hard drive ground up in to very fine particles, I remember seeing a company advertising just such a service recently.
Encrypting the disc is obviously a wise move, but the people behind this operation will know the key, and in any case given the governments dismal record, can we be sure that such methods were employed?
I believe the official government method for disposing of sensitive data is to copy the contents onto a laptop and leave it on a train.
ReplyDeleteEven so, hurrah!! :)
Forensic techniques??????
ReplyDeleteElectron fucking microscopes?????
It's just a glorified address book filled with inaccuracies.
Here's an idea....Hold down Ctrl, right click the file....Select 'Delete'.
Now behave yourselves!
Perhaps Nanny should ask for some advice from Auntie.
ReplyDeletehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/8708074.stm
Contactpoint, the children's database, may have been shut down, but the power to establish it is enshrined in S12 of the Children Act 2004. It has not been repealed and it is unlikely that it will be.
ReplyDelete"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."