Misuse of an electronic database holding sensitive information on 11 million children in England could lead to millions of breaches of security each year, it is claimed today. Privacy campaigners and independent schools have warned of the “enormous” potential for abuse of the huge IT system to be launched next year.
In a letter to the Guardian, they appeal to the government to reconsider “this hugely expensive and intrusive scheme”. The Guardian revealed on Monday how the system would be open to at least 330,000 people as part of an effort to prevent deaths such as that of Victoria Climbie by helping children’s services work together.
– The Guardian
A senior police officer has criticised the structure set up to prepare for the 2012 Olympics, saying that it is “not fit for purpose” and was far too slow in making decisions relating to security.
Richard Bryan, Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said that the whole structure needed to be changed to give greater priority to security issues.
Mr Bryan, director of operations in the Met’s Olympic Security Directorate, said that he was not criticising the Olympic Board, but what he called the “governance structures” surrounding it.
– The Times
The crisis in the Palestinian territories threatened to spill across the Middle East last night after Egypt accused Iran of sponsoring Hamas in its takeover of Gaza and said that Teheran now posed a threat to its own national security.
The Egyptian government, which reinforced its military presence on its border with the Gaza Strip last week, said that it would do everything possible to prevent an Islamist regime from cementing control of the territory.
– The Telegraph
