03 Mar 2009

Data 'should be safeguarded'

Databases containing sensitive information should be subject to safeguards, according to a sector commentator.

Recent attempts by the government to access personal details highlights the need for confidential data to be protected, claims Isabella Sankey, director of policy at independent fundamental rights organisation Liberty.

She believes regulations currently in place provide a safeguard which prevents information being freely available.

"If you had a centralised database there's a lot more chance of the information being misused, getting lost, not being stored properly and the government really going to town and doing searches on this data," Ms Sankey explains.

A drive towards data collection is not being matched with effective protection measures put in place, she concludes.

It was recently revealed that all internet service providers will have to retain data about emails sent and received in the UK for a year afterwards, as part of a European Commission directive.