Whose data is it anyway?  

There has rightly been concern about a proposition in the Government’s Bill on Coroners and Justice about making it easier for organisations to share data. Some of the criticism of the Government for bringing forward this proposal has been unfair, given that the idea for it came first from the Information Commissioner, who is after all our independent guardian of our data protection rights. Any followers of my blog will know that I am serving on the Committee scrutinising this Government Bill and yesterday we debated this data sharing proposal. I’m really pleased to report that the Minister, Bridget Prentice MP, quite openly accepted that the data sharing arrangements have been too widely drawn – and she plans to re-write the offending Clause. In as much as this is a victory, it is common sense that is the winner. The idea that there are some illogical and unnecessary barriers...