Stolen identity: regulating the illegal trade in personal data in the ‘data-based society’

In May 2006, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) presented a report to Parliament entitled What Price Privacy? The report highlighted the extent of the illegal trade in personal data. Arguing that the risk of security breaches had increased largely as a result of the rise of the ‘data-based society’, the ICO called for a change in the legislation to permit jail sentences of up to two years in respect of offences under section 55 of the Data Protection Act 1998. In February 2007, the UK government stated its intention to adopt that recommendation. This paper examines the current UK policy approach to regulating the illegal flow of personal information, and the lead taken by the UK Information Commissioner. Reference is made to the ‘privacy toolbox’, where data protection legislation is combined with measures such as codes of practice and privacy impact assessments (PIAs). Comparisons are made with the work of overseas regulators. In addition, the current regulatory framework regarding section 55 offences is examined, with the author attending an ICO prosecution hearing in December 2006. The paper concludes by arguing that a greater emphasis needs to be placed on the assessment of privacy risks posed, in particular, by the expansion and proposed merger of government databases. Adoption of PIAs could help achieve this

Fully compliant? A study of data protection policy in UK public organisations

Fully compliant? A study of data protection policy in UK public organisation

(Re)locating the border: pre-entry tuberculosis (TB) screening of migrants to the UK

This paper investigates the UK government’s recent expansion of pre-entry tuberculosis (TB) screening of visa applicants to include migrants from over 80 countries. I will focus on how the offshoring of infectious disease surveillance, often conducted on behalf of the UK government by a third party, has (re)shaped the spatialities of border control. During last two decades, human mobility has increased exponentially, with worldwide passenger traffic carried on scheduled airlines almost trebling to nearly three billion. Nation states have sought to regulate these mobilities in order manage risk and filter out ‘threatening’ bodies. In particular, states and transnational organisations (such as the EU) are increasingly outsourcing border controls to overseas territories where migrant bodies are screened prior to departure. Yet, although scholars have conceptualised the relocated border in relation to counter-terrorism and national security, there has been less consideration of the effects of these changes on geographies of health security. This paper seeks to address this gap in knowledge through a qualitative case study of the changing geographies of detection and management of TB at (and beyond) the border in view of recent policy announcements by the UK government. I consider extent to which UK health security enactments have resulted in a ‘biosecuritisation’ of the offshore border as they continue to be implemented across diverse spatial and political settings. In conclusion, I identify the need for further theoretical and empirical investigation into the impact of these measures on the scales of public health governance and spaces of biosecurity and biosurveillance

Surveillance and identity management: migrant perspectives on UK Biometric Residence Permits

The identity card for foreign nationals - now known as the Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) - was first introduced in November 2008. Following the May 2010 UK general election, the newly formed Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition government announced that the scheme would not be extended to UK citizens. To date, over 300,000 BRPs have been issued to UK foreign nationals e a group of non-EEA migrants that include international students, visiting scholars and entrepreneurs. In this paper, we draw on findings from interviews conducted with policymakers, advocacy groups, Higher Education administrators and foreign nationals - between March and December 2010 - to highlight some policy issues arising from the continued roll-out of the BRPs to this migrant group. We conclude by arguing that, although interviewees raised few objections to the BRPs in principle, cardholders were concerned about being unfairly ‘targeted’ for additional surveillance and remained unclear about the true purpose of the BRP. We identify a number of areas for further policy development

Privacy impact assessment in the UK

Privacy impact assessment in the U

Public libraries as e-government intermediaries

This paper presents an analysis of the potential for public libraries to act as e-government intermediaries (EGIs). EGIs are defined by the UK government as ‘organisations from the private or voluntary sectors offering services targeted at groups of customers’ (Cabinet Office, 2003b: 18). Intermediaries can assist people with their e-government use in recognition of the fact that although governments around the world are establishing e-government services, usage remains low in certain geographic areas and among disadvantaged sections of the population. In this paper, the characteristics of successful EGIs will be identified with the aim of establishing good practice in breaking down the digital divide and opening up e-government services to those who may benefit the most from them

Highly skilled migration and the negotiation of immigration policy: non-EEA postgraduate students and academic staff at English universities

Whilst scholarly research has highlighted the role of the state in facilitating labour migration, little academic work exists on how skilled and highly skilled migrants actively negotiate changes to immigration policy. Since 2008, UK labour immigration policy has undergone significant reform, including: the introduction of a Points Based System (PBS); the imposition of an annual limit on entry of selected skilled migrants; and the direct linkage of highly skilled visas to offers of employment. Consequently, further investigation is required into how highly skilled individuals negotiate immigration policy and work around the practical challenges they may face in everyday life. This paper seeks to address this gap in knowledge by presenting a qualitative case study investigating the experiences and opinions of students and staff from outside the European Economic Area (EEA), based at universities in London and the Midlands. By focusing on Higher Education (HE), we draw attention to the inter-relationships between highly skilled academic mobility, globalisation and labour immigration policy, highlighting the juxtaposition between perceived ease of movement and the restrictions imposed by border and immigration controls, on this group of individuals

Managing surveillance? The impact of biometric residence permits on UK migrants

On 27 May 2010, the newly formed UK Coalition government announced the cancellation of national identity cards for UK citizens. Yet, foreign nationals remain subject to a separate biometric identity card scheme—renamed ‘Biometric Residence Permits' (BRPs)—currently being rolled out to various categories of migrant. To date, over 300,000 such cards have been issued to various foreign-national groups, including international students, visiting scholars, entrepreneurs, investors and domestic workers. Although research has been conducted on UK immigration policy, there has been little investigation into how foreign nationals view, experience and negotiate BRPs. In this paper, we draw on our own empirical work to examine the impact of BRPs on migrants. From March to December 2010, interviews and participative research were conducted with the Home Office, the UK Border Agency, advocacy and civil society groups, Higher Education Institutions and individual migrants. We consider the extent to which this scheme acts as a means of exercising surveillance and control over foreign nationals, and the ability of these migrants to negotiate around such constraints

Knowledge nodes and international networks of connection: representations of private philanthropy by elite higher education institutions

This paper investigates the social and cultural geographies of large-scale individual giving in supporting the work of ‘elite’ international universities. With public funding of higher education in general decline, universities in countries of the global North are increasingly seeking funding from alternative sources, including private philanthropy. Although scholarly work has examined corporate and foundational giving to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), there has been little enquiry into how donations from wealthy individuals are represented by universities in their official literature. Publications such as annual reports, giving reports and campaign reports are used strategically by HEIs to project a global image. We examine the official literature of 50 elite HEIs located across the globe, uncovering new discourses into the cross-cultural reach of universities. We draw attention to complex social and cultural relations between HEIs and philanthropists, describing their encounters with reference to debates on personal mobilities, world-making and global and social inequalities. We conclude by highlighting the implications for theoretical work on ‘strategic philanthropy’ and on the transformative nature of HEIs as global centres of knowledge

Safeguarding public health at UK airports: an examination of current health security practices

In response to the H1N1 influenza outbreak and the role of air travel in facilitating the virus’s rapid spread around the world, this paper contributes to debates concerning the governance of commercial aviation and infectious disease by examining the role of the Port Health Regulations and associated health security practices that are enacted at UK airports. Drawing on extensive action research and in-depth interviews that were conducted with key stakeholders in the aviation and health care sectors (including airport managers, ‘front line’ customer-facing airline staff, and public health clinicians) during the spring and early summer of 2009, we chart the development of sanitary regulations at UK airports and explore the challenges of performing health security screening at individual sites. In so doing, we identify a number of challenges that are associated with safeguarding public health against the dissemination of infectious diseases by air travel through UK airports. We also suggest that policy transfer may represent an effective mechanism through which best practice procedures from airports overseas could be adapted and incorporated in the UK