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Database of All UK Children Launched

An anonymous reader writes "'A controversial database which holds the details of every child in England has now become available for childcare professionals to access. The government says it will enable more co-ordinated services for children and ensure none slips through the net. 390,000 people will have access to the database, but will have gone through stringent security training.'"

16 of 296 comments (clear)

  1. Surely this can't continue forever? by realnowhereman · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://lpuk.org/

    I stumbled across this website last year. It is a very small (at present) political party. As far as I know, the only one who actively states they will scrap this state monitoring nonsense.

    Hopefully, some of the other parties will realise that people don't want to be monitored, and there are votes to be had out of it.

    --
    Carpe Daemon
    1. Re:Surely this can't continue forever? by Hurricane78 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Nope, they don't like being monitored. They just do not think further than around the next corner. If you tell them the concept of cardinal Richelieu, that if they want to find something, they will find something to hang you, and this gives them the possibility to find something, then they suddenly are very scared and surprised. Or they just start the ignore-machine and stick their head in the sand, which means they got it, but it shocked them too much to look directly at it, so they buried it as deep as they could.

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
  2. will not prevent anything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Here in Denmark, there is the CPR (central person registry), where EVERY person living in Denmark has a unique 10-digit number, and the state+ subscribing entities (such as tax, medical etc etc) has access to relevant data about you.

    Yet, that does not stop children from being abused, disappear etc.

    A database is worth little unless you implant a small tracking device in all you wish to track, and monitor constantly.

  3. Small thing, England != United Kingdom by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    This only afffects England.

    Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own Devolved governing bodies which have been less interested in these massive Databases to date.

    England doesn't have such a body. It was offered but there was a lack of interest.

  4. Re:Get them while they are young. by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Informative

    You do understand the difference between giving information willingly and having it forced out of you?

    If people want to tell everyone when they sit on the can, their biz. But don't expect me to tell you.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  5. Already exists? by PhilJC · · Score: 2, Informative

    I was under the impression that the information to be contained within this database already exists in one form or another and this is the problem that they are trying to solve. Currently this information resides in a hundred different systems and only a small proportion of these systems actually talk and exchange information between them. Such a fragmented system surely can't be good for anyone and by collating it we ensure everyone involved has the entire picture rather than just their service/authorities history of the child.

    Don't get me wrong I do think the current plan is flawed and needs review. The security/integrity of the system needs an overhaul before going live, the number of people with access reduced, tighter regulation introduced outlining when the information can be accessed and a clear declaration as to when a child's information is no longer required by the state and deleted.

  6. Another view to that of the BBC. by auric_dude · · Score: 2, Informative
  7. Re:not my children by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 4, Informative
    every child gets a birth certificate (unless you do a DIY home birth maybe)

    You go to jail if you dont register the birth within 30 days.

    --
    Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
  8. Re:Entries for English children arrested for racis by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/6047514.stm

    Good enough?

  9. Re:Appalling by Jedi+Alec · · Score: 2, Informative

    and the people there have my sympathies for such bureaucratic stupidity. Policies like this and ASBO's of the last few years have had a disastrous effect... government is getting way too intrusive over there.

    The people have your sympathies? Who do you think puts these twerps in power in the first place?

    --

    People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
  10. Re:Database hits gnutella in 3 ... 2.... 1 by Ragein · · Score: 3, Informative

    Having worked for a local council as an IT Engineer I can state that I had the ability to re-set everyone's log on passwords including people who worked with child services, If Someone left the machine locked but with the db open I could have easily accessed it. The real problem with that was none of the Local council IT staff was required to have a crb check because they weren't working directly with children.

    --
    They fitted George Orwell's coffin with rollers so he could turn over more easily years ago.
  11. Yum, yum! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    I just couldn't help linking this thread with the Neanderthal one, care of Jonathan Swift!

    Just thinking of the children [rubs stomach]....

  12. Re:Why? by digitig · · Score: 3, Informative

    Over time this is going to be a 1:1 census.

    In conjunction with e-borders, yes.

    --
    Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
  13. Re:Database hits gnutella in 3 ... 2.... 1 by magarity · · Score: 2, Informative

    put a chip in our children...and then the adults will follow
     
    Well, duh, of course the children with chips installed grow up to be adults with chips installed. It will only take a couple of generations to include all ages.

  14. Same government with an 86% infection rate by myxiplx · · Score: 3, Informative

    Bear in mind folks that this is the same government who admit to an 86% infection rate *each year* among the 5,000 odd computers used at Westminster:
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/15/mp_malware_leak_risk/

    Yes, that's 4,300 infected machines a year, with 400 hit badly enough that they get cleaned manually (and I hope to god manual intervention means wipe and start again, but I doubt it somehow).

    So, that's a nigh on certainty that the login details for the database are already well known to 3rd parties then...

  15. Re:I work with this database by xaxa · · Score: 2, Informative

    My biggest criticism of the entire suite of projects is that it completely fails to address - and in fact may exacerbate - the central problem with the Victoria Climbie case that it is supposed to solve. Specifically, she was recorded multiple times on multiple databases due to poorly trained users.

    Holy crap, I hadn't heard of that case here, and looked on wikipedia for it. The only thing I can say, if she was white, none of that would have happened. That is a more sadistic and twisted version of the Missing White Syndrome.

    I assume you don't live in the UK, or else you'd have heard of Baby P.