tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9060198.post1160389798092895859..comments2024-02-14T12:37:14.887+00:00Comments on IT Law in Ireland: Data retention - "The innocent have nothing to fear" editionTJ McIntyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16565959875438814437noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9060198.post-36153400343200315102008-02-01T17:12:00.000+00:002008-02-01T17:12:00.000+00:00From Silicon Republic to-day (as if we didn't alre...From Silicon Republic to-day (as if we didn't already know they were leaky...<BR/><BR/>01.02.2008 - Nearly 100 notebook and desktop PCs have been lost or stolen from Irish government departments over the last five years, along with 14 BlackBerry smartphones and 11 portable media devices, says Ruairi Quinn, spokesperson on Education and Science for the Labour party. <BR/>“[This] shows the need for a strong overall policy on data encryption and protection,” he added.<BR/><BR/>These worrying findings came on the back of a series of Dáil questions which were tabled by Quinn earlier this week to question security practices among governmental departments.<BR/><BR/>While this data loss is not on a par with the massive loss of private data containing information about 25 million child benefit recipients from the UK government in November 2007, the UK incident highlights the fact that increasingly confidential material about citizens, including names, addresses, dates of birth and bank details, are being stored by our Government<BR/><BR/>“More and more confidential data about people is available to Government today, particularly in areas like Social Welfare and Health,” said Quinn.<BR/><BR/>“This allows for better and more focused services to be delivered, but it also creates a risk that must be mitigated.<BR/><BR/>Quinn suggested that all manner of computer devices should be encrypted and protected with strong, secure passwords.<BR/><BR/>“We have seen from recent revelations in the UK that missing computer disks and laptops, some with confidential intelligence information, can cause distress for both Government and citizens,” he added.<BR/><BR/>By Marie BoranAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9060198.post-80845543224980681192008-01-30T14:47:00.000+00:002008-01-30T14:47:00.000+00:00Great to see you keeping data retention on the rad...Great to see you keeping data retention on the radar so consistently. Definitely alarming reading.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com