Devil's Advocate: Big Brother in America

Martin Brampton used to rely on the ineffectiveness of government IT projects as a safeguard against unwarranted prying. But the US and UK authorities have raised their game. Should we be afraid?

Naturally cautious, I’m relieved that it has not been necessary for me to go to the US recently. With the American dominance of the IT business, travel across the Atlantic has often been essential. But nowadays, the withdrawal from commitment to civil liberties leaves some nagging doubts.

The US government, as part of its 'War against terror' decided all non-US citizens could be thrown into jail without any right to a court hearing. Although the rhetoric indicates that this will only happen to putative terrorists, without the right of access to a court, how would one defend oneself? Can I take solace in being a middle-class white male and assume I will not be affected?

Probably nothing would happen to me but there is still a worry that it is imprudent to go to a country that is prepared to put one under lock and key, possibly willing to resort to maltreatment and determined not to provide a guarantee of any legal remedy whatever. The British government has done much the same, which is equally deplorable, but does not directly affect me because of my British citizenship.

Personal data is now under threat too, if you should choose to travel to the US. Airlines are told to hand over everything they know about each passenger to the US authorities, so a good deal of personal information will electronically precede you on your transatlantic journey. Purportedly only required for protection against terrorism, the information to be handed over far exceeds what is strictly necessary. And it is subject to few controls.

Doubts about the state’s propensity to breathe down our necks make me already dubious about the British government’s tendency to gather personal data. I used to be comforted by the evident ineffectiveness of government IT initiatives. Incompetence looked enough to provide protection against co-ordinated use of data gathered by different branches of the public sector. Despite recent high profile disasters, I fear this is no longer an adequate safeguard.

Government ministers and civil servants are now puzzling about how to cope with rising public concern over misuse of personal data. Yet here in the UK, we are at least protected to some degree by data protection laws. We can demand to know what information is held about us and insist on errors being corrected.

Strangely, for a country that often values individual freedom highly, the US has no such protection. So now, anyone travelling to the US will have their personal data handed over, with or without their permission, to a regime that is free to disseminate it as it pleases. The airline passenger name record includes basic data about identity but it also includes such things as special meal requests, credit card numbers, personal comments added by airline staff and anything else that happens to come to the airline’s attention. Quite possibly an email address might be included.

It is often argued that if one is doing nothing wrong, there is nothing to fear from information disclosure. Yet that does not comfort me. Although I live a mundane and largely blameless existence, how am I to know by what standards someone else might judge me? Allied to the removal of the right to freedom until it is removed by proper judicial procedure, I wonder what kind of misunderstandings might arise from a hostile interpretation of my personal data.

There is much to be said for the old British principle that we do not need to give an account of ourselves unless evidence of misdeeds can be brought against us in a public court. And even then, we had the right to remain silent and leave others to prove a case against us. Is electronic data helping to undermine these ancient and valuable principles?

** Martin Brampton is a director and founder of Black Sheep Research (www.black-sheep-research.co.uk ), an independent consultancy providing research, writing and speaking services on a wide range of business and technology subjects. Martin was previously a director at Bloor Research, and has worked with IT as a user and analyst for over 20 years. He can be contacted at silicon@black-sheep-research.co.uk.

For past Devil's Advocate columns see the links below, or type 'Devil' into our search engine.