http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/05/security-policies-under-a-cloudQuote:
Whitehall's strange attitude to the confidentiality of our personal data is revealed not only by its recent attempt to resurrect the snoopers' web-surveillance charter (Report, 3 April), but also by two other initiatives, IdA and G-Cloud.
IdA, Whitehall's identity assurance initiative, is part of its plan to make all public services accessible only over the web. When you submit your tax return, for example, you will require an electronic ID managed by the likes of Google and Facebook. G-Cloud is Whitehall's plan to put all government data on the web, where it will be stored on computers operated by Google and other cloud-computing service providers like Amazon.
These initiatives are being promoted in the name of efficiency and reform, and are the responsibility of Francis Maude. Whitehall's idea of efficiency and reform seems to be to hand over our personal data to third parties in overseas jurisdictions where it will be impossible for Whitehall to keep control of it.
David Moss
London
