The Equality and Human Rights Commission has slammed the way the government uses and stores personal data about UK citizens.
In the Protecting Information Privacy report, the Commission called the existing system "deeply flawed" and revealed Brits are not really sure what information is held about them by the government and it is difficult to hold someone accountable when misuse of data occurs. Furthermore, it expects privacy breaches to "get worse in the future" because the demand for personal information is likely to increase and new ways of collecting, storing and sharing data are found.
"It's important that the Government and its agencies have the information they need about us to do their job, for example to fight crime, or protect our health," said Geraldine Van Bueren from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
"The state is holding increasing amounts of information about our lives without us knowing, being able to check that it's accurate or being able to challenge this effectively. This needs to change so that any need for personal information has to be clearly justified by the organisation that wants it."
The report recommends current legislation is made simpler for Brits to understand as well as getting all government agencies to justify why they hold persona data.
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