Times (UK): Safety fears over new register of all children

From The Times
August 27, 2007

Safety fears over new register of all children
Francis Elliott, Chief Political Correspondent

Senior social workers have given warning of the dangers posed by a new
government register that will store the details of every child in
England from next year.

They fear that the database, containing the address, medical and
school details of all under-18s, could be used to harm the children
whom it is intended to protect.

The Association of Directors of Children's Services (ACDS) has written
to officials outlining its "significant" concerns about the new
system, called ContactPoint, The Times has learnt. Confusion over who
is responsible for vetting users and policing the system "may allow a
situation where an abuser could be able to access ContactPoint for
illegitimate purposes with limited fear of any repercussions", Richard
Stiff, the chairman of the ADCS Information Systems and Technology
Policy Committee, said.

The security fears are fuelled further by the admission that
information about the children of celebrities and politicians is
likely to be excluded from the system.

Related Links
Uncontactable
Fears raised over access to children's database
Integrity of child database questioned
The database, which goes live next year, is to contain details of
every one of the 11 million children in the country, listing their
name, address and gender, as well as contact details for their GP,
school and parents and other carers. The record will also include
contacts with hospital consultants and other professionals, and could
show whether the child has been the subject of a formal assessment on
whether he or she needs extra help.

It will be available to an estimated 330,000 vetted users. Some of
those allowed to check records, such as head teachers, doctors, youth
offender and social workers, are uncontroversial, but critics have
questioned why other potential users, such as fire and rescue staff,
will have access to the database.

ContactPoint was set up after the official report into the death of
Victoria Climbié. Lord Laming concluded that the eight-year-old's
murder could have been prevented had there been better communication
between professionals.

Regulations governing the system, which is costing £224 million to
build and a further £41 million a year to run, were rushed through
parliament without publicity last month, despite the warning of a
House of Lords committee. "The enormous size of the database and the
huge number of probable users inevitably increase the risks of
accidental or inadvertent breaches of security, and of deliberate
misuse of the data (eg, disclosure of an address with malign intent),
which would be likely to bring the whole scheme into disrepute", the
Lords' Select Committee on Merits of Statutory Instruments concluded.

Now local councils have given warning that changes made to the rules
after consultation could leave the system open to abuse. The
Association of Directors of Children's Services has written to
Christine Goodfellow, the official in charge of the new database, to
register its fears over security.

In addition to its warning over vetting, the body says that ministers
are placing "unreasonable and perhaps undeliverable expectations on
local councils" by asking them to guarantee the accuracy of data over
which they have little control.

Private schools and children's rights campaigners have already given
warning that the database is open to misuse. "Unless the system is
secure, the result will be that sensitive information will fall into
the hands of potential abusers of children and traders of
information," a letter signed by the Independent Schools Council,
Privacy International and the Foundation on Information Policy
Research said.

Concerns have been intensified by the admission that, while every
child under 18 in England will have a record, ministers have allowed
some children to be given extra protection. The "shielding" mechanism
will mean that information on the offspring of some politicians and
celebrities could be left off the main database.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families
(DCSF) said that shielding would be available for "children whose
circumstances may mean that they, or others, are at increased risk of
harm". She added: "These decisions will be taken on a case-by-case
basis and will be based on the level of threat posed if their
information becomes more widely available."

Children's rights campaigners and computer security experts say that
this amounts to an acknowledgment that the database will not be
secure. "The Government acknowledges the risks by instituting these
protocols on celebrity and vulnerable children but all children are
potentially vulnerable," Terri Dowty, of Action on Rights for
Children, said.

Ian Brown, a computer security research fellow at the Oxford Internet
Institute, said that the scale of the database posed huge risks. "When
you have got more than 300,000 people accessing this database, it's
just very difficult to stop the sale of information"


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle2332307.ece

wrote:
[...]
Concerns have been intensified by the admission that, while every
child under 18 in England will have a record, ministers have allowed
some children to be given extra protection. The "shielding" mechanism
will mean that information on the offspring of some politicians and
celebrities could be left off the main database.

Animal farm?
[...]

wrote:

From The Times
August 27, 2007

Safety fears over new register of all children
Francis Elliott, Chief Political Correspondent

Senior social workers have given warning of the dangers posed by a new
government register that will store the details of every child in
England from next year.

They fear that the database, containing the address, medical and
school details of all under-18s, could be used to harm the children
whom it is intended to protect.

The Association of Directors of Children's Services (ACDS) has written
to officials outlining its "significant" concerns about the new
system, called ContactPoint, The Times has learnt. Confusion over who
is responsible for vetting users and policing the system "may allow a
situation where an abuser could be able to access ContactPoint for
illegitimate purposes with limited fear of any repercussions", Richard
Stiff, the chairman of the ADCS Information Systems and Technology
Policy Committee, said.

The security fears are fuelled further by the admission that
information about the children of celebrities and politicians is
likely to be excluded from the system.

Related Links
Uncontactable
Fears raised over access to children's database
Integrity of child database questioned
The database, which goes live next year, is to contain details of
every one of the 11 million children in the country, listing their
name, address and gender, as well as contact details for their GP,
school and parents and other carers. The record will also include
contacts with hospital consultants and other professionals, and could
show whether the child has been the subject of a formal assessment on
whether he or she needs extra help.

It will be available to an estimated 330,000 vetted users. Some of
those allowed to check records, such as head teachers, doctors, youth
offender and social workers, are uncontroversial, but critics have
questioned why other potential users, such as fire and rescue staff,
will have access to the database.

ContactPoint was set up after the official report into the death of
Victoria Climbié. Lord Laming concluded that the eight-year-old's
murder could have been prevented had there been better communication
between professionals.

Regulations governing the system, which is costing £224 million to
build and a further £41 million a year to run, were rushed through
parliament without publicity last month, despite the warning of a
House of Lords committee. "The enormous size of the database and the
huge number of probable users inevitably increase the risks of
accidental or inadvertent breaches of security, and of deliberate
misuse of the data (eg, disclosure of an address with malign intent),
which would be likely to bring the whole scheme into disrepute", the
Lords' Select Committee on Merits of Statutory Instruments concluded.

Now local councils have given warning that changes made to the rules
after consultation could leave the system open to abuse. The
Association of Directors of Children's Services has written to
Christine Goodfellow, the official in charge of the new database, to
register its fears over security.

In addition to its warning over vetting, the body says that ministers
are placing "unreasonable and perhaps undeliverable expectations on
local councils" by asking them to guarantee the accuracy of data over
which they have little control.

Private schools and children's rights campaigners have already given
warning that the database is open to misuse. "Unless the system is
secure, the result will be that sensitive information will fall into
the hands of potential abusers of children and traders of
information," a letter signed by the Independent Schools Council,
Privacy International and the Foundation on Information Policy
Research said.

Concerns have been intensified by the admission that, while every
child under 18 in England will have a record, ministers have allowed
some children to be given extra protection. The "shielding" mechanism
will mean that information on the offspring of some politicians and
celebrities could be left off the main database.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families
(DCSF) said that shielding would be available for "children whose
circumstances may mean that they, or others, are at increased risk of
harm". She added: "These decisions will be taken on a case-by-case
basis and will be based on the level of threat posed if their
information becomes more widely available."

Children's rights campaigners and computer security experts say that
this amounts to an acknowledgment that the database will not be
secure. "The Government acknowledges the risks by instituting these
protocols on celebrity and vulnerable children but all children are
potentially vulnerable," Terri Dowty, of Action on Rights for
Children, said.

Ian Brown, a computer security research fellow at the Oxford Internet
Institute, said that the scale of the database posed huge risks. "When
you have got more than 300,000 people accessing this database, it's
just very difficult to stop the sale of information"


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle2332307.ece

That sort of database could be held on a normal CD eg UKINFO. If MI5
can't keep it's laptops I don't see how other orgainisations can keep
CD's secure.

--
zaax

On Tue, 28 Aug 2007 14:08:38 +0100, johannes
wrote:



wrote:
[...]
Concerns have been intensified by the admission that, while every
child under 18 in England will have a record, ministers have allowed
some children to be given extra protection. The "shielding" mechanism
will mean that information on the offspring of some politicians and
celebrities could be left off the main database.

Animal farm?
[...]

Already here.
Seen the passport application form?