CILIP, the UK’s library and information association, has joined the Open Rights Group and other privacy campaigners in expressing their strong concerns about the proposal to aggregate GOV.UK user data centrally for use by Downing Street as part of Brexit planning, reported yesterday in Buzzfeed news.

The aggregation and use of personal data creates significant risks to the privacy of British citizens. While we acknowledge the Government statement that the data in question will not include identifiers of individuals, in today’s complex and interrelated data environment any aggregation activity carries with it the very significant risk of personal identification.

This is why it is important that any developments in the use of personal data are discussed in advance with privacy rights groups, information professionals, representative bodies and other stakeholders - particularly at a time of political turbulence. The urgency with which these proposals are apparently being implemented rides roughshod over the principle of accountable governance.

That is why we are writing to the Lords Constitutional Committee to petition for a Public Inquiry into the proposals – to ensure that the Government’s actions are subject to appropriate scrutiny and do not risk an unintentional incursion into individual civil liberties.

Nick Poole
Chief Executive, CILIP