Private is it? ID needed.

There is a lot of debate today about " Are we giving away too much of our private information?"

This is the wrong question, it should be, "How can I get it back?", "How do I know where it is?", "How can I delete or edit it?" "How can I get ownership of it back?"

This applies as much to Facebook as it does to banks and credit agencies as it does to government and the NHS.

There is an assumption these days that once I have given away some information it no longer belongs to me and I can't take it back.

This is plainly wrong. It is my information.

Have you tried to renew your driving licence on-line? WoW! They ask for reams and reams of numbers and codes, which I simply don't regard as my information and don't see why I should keep it for them. It is their information. Something that makes their wheels go round, not mine. Ask me something I know, not to remember information that you know.

In the end Data Protection - not to use any data except for the purpose it was given and to destroy it after it has been used - is not enough.

We have to have the right to open and free access to every bit of information given and stored anywhere about us. Without delay, without payment.

For example. If my doctor fills in some notes about me I want free and open access to that information. I would go even further, I want control and ownership of that information, I want to keep it myself and let others see it only when I chose. I want it removed from the database when I leave the surgery and kept in some form (USB stick, Smartcard?) by me. I will then reveal it when and to whom I chose.

And this is a general rule, applicable to any data collection. It is mine to own, mine to keep. Mine to reveal or keep secret as I wish.

Let's have ID cards

In this day and age it seems to me that we do need ID cards, At least these will enable the person that is me to be easily associated with data that is kept about me. Provided two things, that everyone uses the same common ID system (government, banks, shops, etc), and that I have free access (read and edit) to any data sent or held, and a right to remove it and keep it privately if I chose.

You see the ID card has to identify me for control of my data.