A Whitechapel-based accountant has been prosecuted and fined for breaching the Data Protection Act.

Aziz Arian of Arian & Co Accountants must pay over £900 in fines and costs for failing to notify the Information Commissioners’ Office that the firm processed individuals’ personal information.

It is the third prosecution of an accountancy firm this year.

‘Notifying as a data controller under the Data Protection Act is an important obligation for all organisations which process personal information,’ said Mick Gorrill, assistant commissioner at the ICO

Original Article

Tags: data protection, Data Protection Act

Following a series of freedom of information requests, by the Liberal Party, it has been discovered that sample/information from the UK DNA database have been sold onto other companies.

The National Police Improvement Agency whose role include overseeing delivery of the National DNA Database Service has admitted this stating “After approval by the National DNA Database Strategy Board, [the samples] were made available for authorized research purposes demonstrating clear potential operational benefit to the police in terms of detecting and solving crime. These profiles are completely anonymous and are not identifiable in any way”

Jennifer Wilmot (pictured), the Liberal Democrat MP for Cardiff Central, and Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Work & Pensions said: “The 25 projects that have been approved by ministers include some sinister explorations into ethnic profiling. It is appalling that these Big Brother practices have been allowed to go on unchecked for so long and with extremely limited ethical standards.”

Obviously the samples were identifiable in some way - else they could not be used to research, e.g identifying sex, race, etc

Original Article

Tags: data protection, DNA, UK Law

Britain now has by far the largest DNA database in the world. It includes an estimated one million people who have never been found guilty of any offence, some 100,000 of whom are children.

About 40 per cent of young black men have been forced to provide samples, compared with 13 per cent of Asian men and 9 per cent of white men.

Genetic material is now taken from all people arrested by police, regardless of whether they are subsequently charged or convicted, and remains on file for life.

Offences covered include begging, being drunk and disorderly, taking part in an illegal demonstration and minor acts of criminal damage caused by children kicking footballs or, in one instance, throwing a snowball.

Detailed consultation on the database by the commission, the Government’s genetic watchdog, found the public believed samples provided by the innocent should be destroyed and those of people convicted of lesser offences removed after a few years.

The damning verdict was delivered by panels in Birmingham and Glasgow. After studying evidence about the database they called for an array of reforms designed to reassure the public that it would not be abused. They concluded that the records of children convicted of minor offences should be removed after a short period. Warning that adults are “criminalised” by having their DNA permanently on record, the panels said the length of time it stays on the database should be proportionate to their offence. “Currently no distinction is made between someone who has been arrested for breach of the peace and someone who has murdered somebody,” the commission’s report noted.

It registered alarm over the “very lax security” protecting the database and concerns over “who had access to samples and profiles and for what purpose”. The panel members unanimously supported a nationwide publicity campaign to raise awareness of the database, using the internet, posters, leaflets and school visits.

The public backed control over the database being transferred to an independent body comprising ministers, police and civilians. Juries should be given better information about DNA in trials, they said, with independent scientists explaining the evidence, in addition to those hired by the prosecution and defence.

The proposed destruction of many DNA samples would be strongly opposed by ministers, who argue that they have proved vital to solving a succession of “cold cases”. A Home Office spokesman said: “The national DNA database is a key information tool which has revolutionised the way the police can protect the public through identifying offenders and securing more convictions. It provides the police on average with almost 3,500 matches each month.” He said there had been 41,717 crimes in 2006-07 which yielded DNA matches, including 452 homicides, 644 rapes, 222 other sex offences and more than 8,500 domestic burglaries.

Full Article - The Independent

Tags: DNA, UK Law

Its well known that the UK government has lost a lot of data over past few years, mainly due to it failing to encrypt data.

Examples:

• The NHS loses 21,000 records on an unencrypted laptop
• MoJ lose 4 CDs containing lost criminal case information, the CDs were unencrypted.
• Government lose MPs laptop, the laptop was unencrypted
• NHS lose millions of records, the data was lost on unencrypted media
• HMRC lose 25 million records, on unencrypted media

From a recent audit of US Government IT security, it appears that they have the same issue and encrypt onlly 30% of the condifential material they should do.Only 30 percent of sensitive information stored on U.S. government laptops and mobile devices, including the personal information of U.S. residents, was encrypted a year ago, despite a series of data breaches at government agencies in recent years, according to an auditor’s report.

The report, by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, found that 70 percent of sensitive information held on laptops and mobile devices at 24 major U.S. agencies was unencrypted as of last September. The GAO report defined several types of data as sensitive, including personal medical records, other personal information, law enforcement data and records essential for homeland security.

Full Article

Tags: Data Loss

The anti-piracy companies (e.g BPI) don’t, yet,  have any laws in the UK to deal with their file sharing nemesis: People with computers!

So BPI have started their own campaign, backed by the government, to clamp down on file sharers. By working with the ISPs they intend to deter, and then stop, people from downloading.  Corporate censorship can often be far more powerful than other forms of censorship, or even laws.

Previously only Virgin was involved in the clampdown, with  Virgin Media and BPI working closely together. Numerous letters have been sent out to people accused to downloading and sharing music/movies illegally, via Virgin Media. It is reported that 800 letters have been sent out , with possibly thousands more to come.

Despite Virgin Media working closely with BPI for the past few months in April 2008 the Talk Talk Chairman said that he would not spy on customers, and would not work with the BPI on this type of project.

However, in a new deal the major, negotiated by the government, the UK’s major IPs - BT, Virgin, Orange, Tiscali, BSkyB and Carphone Warehouse (Talk Talk) have all signed up to work with BPI.

The BPI have a three stage program, the which starts with writing a warning letter to customers and ends with the individual having their account terminated.

While the UK government, ISPs, and record industry has been touting this latest deal, other, less authoritarian countries are not following suit. Sweden, for example, has made is very clear against similar methods

Tags: anti piracy, file sharing, Piracy

BPI - British Phonographic Industry - is the primary body trying to stop file sharing/music downloads and music piracy in general.

Currently BPI have a three stage approach to stopping this activity:

Step One: Advice/Letter Sent out

At this stage the BPI send out a letter to the suspects. So far Virgin have sent out over 800 letters. These letters can only be be written with the assistance of the ISPs, who will provide information relating to the IP addresses collected.

Step Two: Suspension

If a customer’s account is identified a second time, their account is suspended. The customer is asked to sign a written undertaking stating that their account will not continue to be used illegally, and that they understand that further illegal use of that account may result in the cancellation of their contract. The account remains suspended until the undertaking is returned.

Step Three: Contract Cancellation

If a customer’s account is identified a third time, their contract with the internet service provider is cancelled, in line with the terms and conditions outlined in the contract

At this point the ISPs, along with BPI, will have had some very detailed monitoring of what the individual was uploading when and at what time.

The BPI state they identify the file sharers in the following way: “There is no “spying” under three-step: the evidence collected by the BPI is in fact made available by any uploader to in the normal course of using a p2p network. There is no “policing” by the ISP: it is the BPI, and not the ISP, who collects this evidence. Nor does the process raise “data protection issues”: no personal customer information is collected by the BPI in this process, nor is it requested by the BPI.“

If this is correct then this means that BPI are logging onto networks like E-Mule, Kazza, E-Donkey, etc, and downloading music. They then ID the IP address of the computers providing each song, pass the IP address to the ISP and let them write the letter.

If this is true, the tools provided by sites like  BlueTack will help defeat BPI.

Tags: anti piracy, file sharing, Piracy

Below are two examples the letters being sent out by Virgin in relation their recent clamp down on file sharing:

Virgin Letter 1

Virgin/BPI Letter2

Tags: anti piracy, Piracy

In April 2008 Charles Dunstone, the head of Talk Talk, of one of Britain’s biggest internet providers has criticised the music industry for demanding that he act against pirates.

The trade body for UK music, the BPI, asked internet service providers to disconnect people who ignore requests to stop sharing music.

But Charles Dunstone of Carphone Warehouse, which runs the TalkTalk broadband service, is refusing.

He said it is not his job to be an internet policeman.

BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones said that the music industry has been fighting a losing battle to prevent people from swapping songs for nothing on the internet.

Mr Dunstone, whose TalkTalk broadband is Britain’s third biggest internet provider, said the demands are unreasonable and unworkable.

Full BBC Article

Tags: anti piracy, Piracy

In October 2007 British and Dutch police shut down a “widely-used” source of illegally-downloaded music.

A flat on Teesside and several properties in Amsterdam were raided as part of an Interpol investigation into the members-only website OiNK.

The UK-run site has leaked 60 major pre-release albums this year alone, said the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).

A 24-year-old man from Middlesbrough was arrested on Tuesday morning.

‘Extremely lucrative’

The IT worker was led from his home in the town’s Grange Road and is being questioned on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and infringement of copyright law.

At the same time his employer - a large multi-national company - and his father’s home were also raided.

Full BBC Article

Tags: anti piracy, Piracy

In Octover 2007 the UK Government was considering legislation to stop file sharing/music downloads in the UK

Lord Triesman, the parliamentary Under Secretary for Innovation, Universities and Skills, said intellectual property theft would not be tolerated.

“If we can’t get voluntary arrangements we will legislate,” he said.

Lord Triesman called on internet service providers to take a “more activist role” in the problem of illegal file-sharing.

There are ongoing talks between internet service providers and the music industry and these are, said Lord Triesman, “progressing more promisingly than people might have thought six months ago”.

“For the most part I think there are going to be successful voluntary schemes between the creative industries and ISPs. Our preferred position is that we shouldn’t have to regulate,” he said.

He admitted that the technology necessary to track illegal file sharing would mean that “it is quite possible to know where it is happening and who it is happening with”.

While he said that the government had no interest in “hounding 14-year-olds who shared music”, it was intent on tracking down those who made multiple copies for profit.

“Where people have registered music as an intellectual property I believe we will be able to match data banks of that music to music going out and being exchanged on the net,” he said.

“We have some simple choices to make. If creative artists can’t earn a living as a result of the work they produce, then we will kill off creative artists and that would be a tragedy.”

Full Article BBC

Tags: anti piracy, Piracy