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Gov.uk gathering ‘targeted and personalised’ info
Reports that the PM has secretly ordered the Cabinet Office to turn Gov.UK into a platform for ‘targeted and personalised’ information to be gathered in the run-up to Brexit
https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexspence/boris-johnson-dominic-cummings-voter-data
Ooh now this is right up my street. Whilst my immediate colleagues obsess on the minutiae of Brexit I think we are sleepwalking into a surveillance society beyond anything imaginable and Brexit is a specific distraction to far too much on that front. I could read about this stuff for hours (and do).
Via @lampfrey
Wondering if there’s a link between @alexGspence’s report on pre-election government data mining and @Derek_duPreez article on parts of the GOVUK codebase quietly being made private a few days ago?
https://twitter.com/lampfrey/status/1171720039910846464
https://diginomica.com/gds-takes-govuk-open-source-code-and-makes-it-privatebut-why
The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office is questioning the UK government about the collection of personal data on its Gov.uk platform ....
... the ICO said: “We have contacted government regarding the collection of personal data on Gov.uk in order to fully understand its approach to compliance with data protection law and whether any further action is necessary.”
Few people in Whitehall would deny that many aspects of government could benefit from modernisation. However, there are plenty of legitimate civil liberties concerns about transforming GOV.UK into a conventional tech platform, and it appears that this is exactly what Johnson and Cummings have set out to do.
The Government Digital Service has drafted in teams of consultants from Deloitte, Cognizant and PA Consulting to deliver projects relating to “urgent EU Exit requirements” ... The three deals, struck over the course of the last four months, are worth £1m each and have been designed to provide additional assistance to Whitehall departments struggling to roll out essential digital services ahead of the 31 October Brexit deadline.
https://tech.newstatesman.com/public-sector/gds-consultancies-digital-services