Government databases condemned as illegal

At least 11 Government databases containing the personal information of British citizens are almost certainly illegal under data protection or human rights laws and should be radically redesigned or scrapped immediately, according to a report commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust.

The 11 databases identified as illegal include the National DNA Database, a police system which holds the details of 4m people - including 500,000 who are innocent - and ONSET, a Home Office system that holds information on children and is supposed to predict which of them will offend in future.

The NHS's much vaunted Detailed Care Record is another to fall into the unlawful category according to the trust. Their ruling was predicted by Jonn Elledge in The First Post last summer, when he wrote that the £6bn NHS database could actually breach your human rights.

The authors of the report, Database State, identify a further 29 databases that have significant problems with privacy and could fall foul of a legal challenge. Only six of the 46 government databases surveyed were found to be proportionate, necessary and with a proper legal basis for privacy intrusions - among them the TV Licensing Database.

Co-author Ross Anderson, professor of security engineering at Cambridge, said: "Britain's database state has become a financial, ethical and administrative disaster, which is penalising some of the most vulnerable [in] society. It also wastes billions of pounds a year and often damages service delivery rather than improving it."

There are now thousands of databases operating in Whitehall. The Government spends over £16bn every year on IT systems - even though only 30 per cent of Government IT projects succeed.

The report's authors say that these databases are ineffective and frequently lead to vulnerable groups like young black men, children and single mothers being victimised. They point out that Britain stands alone among developed countries in the way it seeks to centralise personal information and share it among departments like the police, Inland Revenue and health and social services. Most other countries hold healthcare and social services data locally.

The Government is retreating from large-scale projects after bad publicity

Responding to the allegations, the Government says the Rowntree report contains "no substantive evidence" that its databases are illegal. A Ministry of Justice spokesman said the Government "takes its responsibilities seriously and will consider any concerns carefully, adapting existing safeguards where necessary".

But there is already evidence that the Government is rowing back from new large-scale database projects following bad publicity caused by civil servants mislaying laptops and memory sticks and questions over the cost and feasibility of the National Identity Register, the database that would make compulsory ID cards possible.

That database, also condemned by the Rowntree report, has been scaled back drastically. Meanwhile another database slammed in the report, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith's proposed communications database, which was to hold information on everyone's internet history, phone calls and emails, has been put on the back-burner after Home Office officials themselves expressed concerns over the legality of the plan. A consultation paper on their plans due in January has yet to appear.