Government databases - Why "the innocent have nothing to fear" simply isn't true

The Times has a very sad story:

A pensioner was killed after a couple used a policeman friend to trace him and then attacked his home in a dispute over a supermarket parking space, a jury was told yesterday.

Bernard Gilbert, 79, died of a heart attack after a brick was thrown through his window.

The former Rolls-Royce worker became a target when he shouted at Zoe Forbes, 26, because she parked her car in a space he had earmarked for himself at a branch of Asda, Nottingham Crown Court was told.

Mrs Forbes was upset and called her husband Mark, who told her to note down Mr Gilbert’s numberplate. He then asked a policeman friend to check Mr Gilbert’s address on the police national computer, using the car registration number.

Mr Forbes sent his wife a text message reading: “We’ll smash his car to bits and then his hire car and then whatever he gets after that until he dies.”

The couple deny manslaughter.

Samizdata puts it well: "The innocent have nothing to fear - so long as they have not annoyed anyone who knows a copper who can be persuaded to look up an address."