Hands Off Our Emails

This isn't just the petulant cry of Derek Draper during the events or the weekend but is the opinion according to a poll on PoliticsHome.com

The poll is in response to the EU directive requiring all phone calls, e-mails and Internet hits be stored for a year which came into effect last Monday. The survey also highlights that 56 per cent are worried about the possibility of a 'Big Brother state' and 63 per cent believe the government holds too much information already on individuals.

It shows how out of touch the Government are with public opinion about having so much of their personal data being cached. 58 per cent of those surveyed agree with the statement: 'There is no such thing as secure data storage. It inevitably gets into the wrong hands.'

Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said:

"This survey demonstrates what we have said for some time, that the government
has lost touch with public opinion on the importance of personal privacy. This is the clearest signal that it's high time the supertanker was turned around."

So with the public wakening up to the ineptitude of Government data storage and the sheer volume of data the Government is seeking to hold is starting to break through, even with Labour voters. It is the infringement into more or more of our personal space that is started to tip the public consciousness.

For a long time some of us have been warning that if we kept allowing the Government to move forward the line into our privacy we'd find it hard to stop when we woke up to the extent they had reached. Hoarding details on us after we may well have deleted them, securely stored them, or whatever, when we all know this Government's reputation for losing such things is what has finally made the public wake up.

Missing Presumed Mislaid by Government

What a decade it has been and I don't just mean lost data now.

1 Dept of Education car worth ££22,550 (possibly a Toyota Prius although the Chinese Government may shed more light on this than ours)
1 motorbike
1 Vitorian desk
12 rolls of gaffer tape
416 phones (including satalite phones and blackberries)
591 Laptops.

In total 1100 laptops have now gone missing, 503 of which have been lost by the Ministry of Defence, 234 by the Department of Health. How can we trust them to keep our information safe, if they seem incapable of keeping tabs on sources of data storage under thier remit which may well contain copies of some or all of the information we have entrusted to their care.

Gordon Brown: Freedom of Information and £100k

So after a Freedom of Information ruling to release 14 MPs and ex-MPs recent expense claims. We are now being told that a £100,000 court action has been raised to stop this disclosure.

My next step was to look up the voting record of the most senior today of those 14, Gordon Brown on public whip. Guess what there is no vote recorded next to the then chancellor on this legislation. Although as it was being championed by his cabinet collegue Jack Straw surely he would have been in favour, had he not been otherwise detained on 4 April 2000. Of course the Member for Witney, wasn't David Cameron in those days so also we have no definitive idea how he would have voted on that issue.

However, now with the backing of the Speaker of the House, these 2 plus 12 others are trying to by-pass legislation passed within the house. So they are going to spend even more tax-payers money to avoid disclosing just what expenses they have incurred.

Surely that is immoral at all sorts of levels. What are they so scared to give up? Surely it can't only be their addresses, surely if this is a security issue and current information that would be except from full disclosure. But the values of these expenses should not be kept from us any more. After three years of FOI consideration of this issue there were nearly given up, now we find our government is not so keen on freedom of information as they would like you to believe they are. Oh yes they want to have all your information but are not prepared to give anything back.

Letter is Off to Straw

My letter to Jack Straw regarding his comments on TheyWorkForYou is now winding its way though the etha and also a back up hard copy is now in the custody of the Royal Mail. James Graham's pledge did remarkably well in a short space of time and 103 similar letters will be hitting Mr Straw's in-box very shortly.

My contribution is below for your reading pleasure.

Dear Mr. Straw

I'm writing to you regarding your comments in the House of Commons on 20 July 2006 (HC Deb. Col. 461) when you criticised MPs' researchers for submitting frivolous Parliamentary Questions to "prove a point" and you singled out the website TheyWorkForYou.com as largely or solely responsibile for "encouraging" this.

I'm upset that you chose to attack the work of TheyWorkForYou.com in this way. It is actually a valuable resource and public service which would not need to exist is the Parliament.gov.uk site was more easily accessible to the general public.

TheyWorkForYou.com are actually very careful in how their information is presented including disclaimers about the figures their present. TheyWorkForYou.com is non-partisan but offers ease of access for constituents to find out exactly what their elected representative at Westminster is doing and saying on their behalf.

I understand that the operators of TheyWorkForYou.com are constantly seeking to improve their statistics and how they are presented. To this end they are holding a public consultation on that subject including a public meeting on 7 November, I hope that you will be able to attend.

Meanwhile there are a number of thing which you, in your capacity as Leader of the House of Commons, should be able to achieve.

I trust you are able to ensure that information from the official Parliament site is made more accessible. Was it not this Government that was responsible for the Freedom of Information Act (2000)? Whether that means an internal reappraisal or working with other organisations such as TheyWorkForYou who are making debate and information more easily accessible and digestible would depend on budget and feasibility restraints.

Even if you cannot make the public meeting that you will liaise with the developers of TheyWorkForYou regarding future developments.

Also please desist from criticising members of your fellow MPs' staffs. I'm quite sure that they are merely following their bosses' orders.

Yours Sincerely

Stephen Glenn

Only A Cricket Team More

James Graham's worthwhile pledge to point out the error of his ways over theyworkforyou is nearing its deadline. We only need a cricket or football team more of people to sign up to reach the century.

I notice Stephen Glynn, another policital poster I'm sometimes confused with, has joined me and also signed up and there is quite a cross party mix on there. So if you think that theyworkforyou is an effective tool for highlighting the work of your representative at Westminster get over to Pledgebank and take the pledge now.

BTW Latest Score from Old Trafford England 357-7.

What is Getting up Straw's Back?

Well James Graham has launched a pledge to help educate him and find an answer.

Last time I looked our MPs were elected as representatives of the people, i.e. they are elected to serve all the people of their area no matter how they voted for him. Therefore is it not wise for the people to have a good idea of just what that elected representative is doing or saying at the place he was appointed by such people. Unlike most employees MP dod not have an annual review but they must face one at least once every 5 years unless they resign, retire or die in office.

Therefore sites such as They Work For You which keep a track on their speeches, questions and voting behaviour are mush easier to assimilate that knowldge than Hansard the official reporting of business in Westminster.

However, this is the straw that is threatening to break Jack Straw's back. He thinks people look at such things for 'quantitative rather than qualitative measures'. Well actually Jack, as it does give us a record of our representatives contributions from the floor and also shows us their voting records. Therefore we can see just when they may say something to us in person and then do the reverse when facing a party whip.

theyworkfor you have already launched a consultation to look at the way their measure MPs work. Maybe, as James suggests, Mr Straw would be good enough to get involved in that process. AFter the heated comments he has made about how they operate he clearly thinks some issues should be addressed and should make these known. Or will he do what he is accusing others of doing for the sake of stats and send only his researchers instead.