Astonishing and highly disproportionate……
BBC could get power to access private data
The BBC could be given new powers to access to people’s private and public data as part of a raft of new measures to tackle licence-fee evasion.
An independent consultation suggested that the corporation could be given access to “new data sources” to help make collection of the charge more efficient.
A spokesman confirmed that as well as publicly available records, the databases could include information from banks, utility companies and other sources as long as it was considered “proportionate”.
The data would feed into the TV licensing Authority’s database of 31 million households, which it has been building for the last 26 years.
The review also suggests that new legislation could be introduced to prosecute anyone who fails to inform authorities that they don’t have a television.
Amazing anyone could think this was a suitable way of raising funding for the BBC.
how will Scott defend this then?
He won’t! If he says anything it would be to attck you, David Vance or Alan (or a combination). He can never counter the thousands of valid points made on this site so has to resort to ad hominems to keep his bosses happy.
This is just scandalous!
The fact that very few organisations from HMRC downwards can be trusted to look after our data safely and properly is just one example of where it can go wrong.
In addition, isn’t there something called the Data Protection Act which is supposed to protect us against this kind of nonsense? That is often quoted to me by my service providers as a reason for not being able to provide some service or other, how do these other dead-legs get around it?
There’s no such thing as ‘proportionate’ when it comes to the public sector.
This is the group which thought it was ‘proportionate’ to use powers given to them to combat terrorism, to snoop on people they suspected were not living in the catchment area for a popular school.
There were loads of petty examples where these powers were wholly misused and in the end the government was forced to remove the powers from them completely.
The BBC and their agents do not need any extra powers, and why should they be entitled to them above other bodies like councils?
If you owe the licence fee then you should pay it – there are more people going through the courts for this iniquitous tax than any other offence. If you owe council tax it’s the same deal, but there are no proposals to give these powers to them.
Make no mistake, these powers if implemented WILL be misused, because corrupt staff will have access and the state has a complete refusal to discipline, let alone sack or prosecute such staff members.
The State should have as few powers as it’s possible to run the country effectively, and all proposals to increase those powers should render the person suggesting them unsuitable to be involved in any other form of government policy proposals.
“The State should have as few powers as it’s possible to run the country effectively, and all proposals to increase those powers should render the person suggesting them unsuitable to be involved in any other form of government policy proposals. ”
One of your best statements.
“There’s no such thing as ‘proportionate’ when it comes to the public sector.”
Sadly, very true. I remember when the Inland Revenue merged with Customs and Excise, the taxman actually wanted the same powers as the C&E – the powers of arrest, and to search a suspect’s without the need for a warrant
Thankfully, the then Labour Government showed some sense for once, and said no. Mind you, with Ed M’s latest attack on tax “cheats”, I can’t hep thinking the answer would be different if he was asked today
The classic example of ‘mission creep’ is the strange case of Walter Wolfgang who had the Terrorism Act used against him for shouting ‘Nonsense!’ at Jack Straw during a Labour Party Conference:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4292342.stm
As things spiral even further away from James Purnell’s strategic dream planning, it would seem the BBC has decided the best form of defence is attack, via the usual suspect ‘independent’ front punts.
Such things can win concessions in negotiations with fellow bubble dwellers, but hardly seems the smartest PR ploy with their core compelled customer base.
It just makes them look desperate state stooges, which is pretty much the case.
Looking forward to Hattie, Polly, etc to swing by with the battleaxe bus in support.
‘Earlier this month members of the House of Lords, led by BBC peers acting in pure self, and conflicted interest, faced further mockery and distain after they kicked the can down the path for two years to suppress an attempt to end the criminalisation until they stitch up the Charter review’
There, fixed that for you, a spokesperson says.
It always helps to read the article before posting about it.
This is one option among a while spectrum, from one end to the other. The headline is just the sexy one because it gets the big brother/end if the world paranoids a but hot and bothered.
I was also going to mention it having nothing to do with the BBC, but apparently this independent group is just a front.
What’s a “while spectrum”?
Sorry, that’s ‘whole spectrum’. I was typing on the phone, not my forte.
The article says:
‘The consultation options range from doing nothing to strengthening the licence fee or decriminalising it….the consultation will feed into a review will be presented to Parliament in June next year, giving the next government a series of options for the future of the licence fee. ‘
This foul corrupt insidious organisation desires more power than they have already to control society and ensure the public will have to fund them further to do it.
I don’t know what angers me more;
Those that run this Ministry of Thought;
Spineless corrupt politicians that allow it to continue knowing full well it doesn’t perform according to its charter;
Or the ignorance of a society itself for not demanding an end to something that would be expected more in third world type despots.
Given the damage already done to this society because of the BBC mindset, propaganda and agenda, would see an ethical government close it down.
Sickening!
“The review also suggests that new legislation could be introduced to prosecute anyone who fails to inform authorities that they don’t have a television.”
That’s straight from the DT article. Can that be serious? You now have to confess to not having a goggle-box and it will be a criminal offence to fail to confess?
The BBC, and its TV Licensing contractors, cannot be trusted with anyone’s personal data, as a previous article on the subject goes to show:
TV Licensing Data Breaches
sounds like the left wing biasd bbc are rolling back 50 years and are employing the tactics that joseph stalin and the stasi done to persecute people,this is just another example of why the bbc licence has to be scrapped,this country is getting more like communist china everyday, but the big diference there is even the commies in china dont persecute and force you to pay the bloody square box in the corner.