ICO urges firms to step up privacy controls

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) wants organisations to take more steps to ensure customer and staff privacy before embarking on new technology initiatives.

The privacy watchdog has commissioned the Enterprise Privacy Group (EPG) to produce expert opinion on the matter in a new report.

The EPG is a group of organisations that work on identity-related issues, and should be able to provide examples of safeguards that can be put in place by organisations to guard against any potential risks to individuals' privacy. The ICO calls this “privacy by design”.

“Very often the collection and use of personal information is essential and beneficial to modern life, but it is important for individuals’ privacy to be a consideration in the planning stages of any new project,” said Jonathan Bamford, assistant commissioner at the ICO in a statement.

The decision by the ICO follows numerous reports of organisations losing people’s data. The latest was the loss of data on 84,000 criminals by PA Consulting, a firm the Home Office contracted to track prolific offenders. The consultancy was also contracted for the implementation of the ID card scheme.