DEMOS

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The new politics of personal information

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• TechnoPresident? In 2006, David Cameron famously described Gordon Brown as an 'analogue politician in a digital age'. It's an image painted consistently by the opposition - a man out of touch with the pace of change. Whatever the merits of these allusions, a similar dynamic seems to be playing out in the US, between Obama and McCain. That's been picked up in the coverage of this year's Personal Democracy Forum Conference. continue reading Posted by Peter Bradwell on 24th June 2008
• Musical 'mares It's not Friday - but can I rant? Unsurprising reports today of some imminent proposals to compel Internet Service Providers to punish users who download pirated material. This follows news a few months back that the government was facilitating talks between ISPs and the music industry. The proposals, as reported at least, seem to be that ISPs would give two warnings to users about the downloading of pirated material, before being banned from their connection. continue reading Posted by Peter Bradwell on 12th February 2008
• QDOS The FYI pamphlet was big on the need for ideas that can help people manage their personal information - and the trail of information we leave behind us that is often called our 'digital footprint'. That tells other people a lot about the kind of things a person likes and, ultimately, the sort of person they are.
  
  So I thought it was worth mentioning Garlik's new tool 'QDOS', which looks like a really interesting and accessible way to start thinking about, and managing, that digital footprint... continue reading Posted by Peter Bradwell on 13th December 2007
• FYI Last Friday, 7th December, we launched FYI: the new politics of personal information, a pamphlet about how and why personal information has become so valuable and important.
  
  Whilst there are many benefits to sharing our personal details, the current debate and attitude has seen us lose control over what other people know and think about us. People need to have more of a stake in influencing the rules that determine how and where their information is used. continue reading Posted by Peter Bradwell on 12th December 2007
• The new politics of personal information We've been telling anyone that will listen for a long time that personal information is really important. In the past couple of days it seems like we, and people like the Information Commissioner, have been proved right. The story details some terrible mistakes, but we can't stop with the bad news story. This is an opportunity to open the serious debate we need about how and why personal information is so valuable.
  
  That's a debate we're calling for in the forthcoming pamphlet FYI: The new politics of personal information, which we're launching on 7th December. continue reading Posted by Peter Bradwell on 22nd November 2007
• Crossing the 'e's Yesterday the Prime Minister announced various anti-terrorism measures, including updates on the 'e-borders' program. There's a comment, about the speech and approach generally, from Timothy Garton-Ash here. I thought it was worth mentioning the e-borders news, especially in the light of our upcoming pamphlet on personal information. continue reading Posted by Peter Bradwell on 15th November 2007 Comments (1)
• The type of information people have matters Big 'Big Brother' headline today, on the front of the Daily Mail. A written answer to a question from the Liberal Democrats shows the number of DNA profiles on the National DNA Database (NDNA), as of 25 October, to be about 4.5 million profiles. I can't find the full written answer online yet, but here's some more coverage of it. Some are duplicates - but the proportion of the population on there seems to be about 6-7%.This isn't really news. The Home Office website proudly boasts that it is... continue reading Posted by Peter Bradwell on 5th November 2007 Comments (1)
• The structured web I just read a really useful post from the Read/WriteWeb blog about where the internet is heading.  It summed up really well some of the significant trends:     "Among the evolving aspects of the new web are Semantics, Attention (Implicit Behavior) and Personalization. Regardless of what we are decide to call this next web, the information in it is going to be more meaningful, more automatic, and more tailored to each of us... continue reading Posted by Peter Bradwell on 11th October 2007 Comments (1)
• The hair and the home office Being pretty geeky, it pleases me when stories that you might assume are a bit tecchie make headline news. So I was delighted to see the BBC all over a story about identity theft, based on an impending report from the All-party Group on Identity Fraud. Unsurprisingly, and understandably, it has made the news because it is about some potentially serious threats stemming from some very popular behaviour and activities - specifically social networking... continue reading Posted by Peter Bradwell on 6th October 2007
• Hearing difficulties The front page of the Mail on Sunday was rather enjoyable today, expressing as it did tangible outrage at the powers of the amended Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. The story is a great example of how frustrating online newspaper copy can be; but trying to understand the changes it is referring to give a broader sense of how difficult it can be to unravel legislative changes and their impact. The whole process, from inception to commentary, can be pretty opaque.The newspaperFirst... continue reading Posted by Peter Bradwell on 30th September 2007

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