They're taking what would appear to be a big step towards protecting children in the UK, opening an e-file on every child.
The children's files together with their unique e-number will be managed by local authorities in a "local information hub". The file will contain the name, address and date of birth of each child, together with the name of the school attended and whether the child is known to such agencies as the police, social services or educational welfare. Where multiple agencies are involved the file will denote which one profesional will have overall reponsibilty.
As a parent, I favor taking any reasonable steps that might make our children safer. But I think we can get into big trouble when we ask technology to solve problems that aren't technical. The article goes on...
The measures are largely the result of the inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbié who was battered, abused and starved to death by her carers in London in 2000. She was eight years old.
The inquiry found confusion and incompetence amongst a number of agencies that might have saved the child. Inquiry head, Lord Laming, said there were at least 12 occasions on which police, social workers or NHS staff might have intervened had they talked to one another.
Folks, putting an e-file in place isn't going to do much in the way of resolving confusion and incompetence. God forbid there should be another case like that of Victoria Climbié, but it wouldn't surprise to see the following analysis given for some future tragedy:
The inquiry found confusion and incompetence amongst a number of agencies that might have saved the child. Inquiry head, Lord Laming, said there were at least 12 occasions on which police, social workers or NHS staff might have intervened had they just looked at the e-file.
Also, there's a cynical side of me that wonders...what exactly does the British government plan on doing with these detailed records of the lives of every single person born in the country once they reach adulthood? I'm sure they'll just delete them or stop udpating them or something.
Right.
UPDATE: In an apparent effort to establish that I'm not just being paranoid, here, Posse member Robert Hinkley directs us to this report that the British government may be implementing a computer-based vehicle tracking system to generate traffic citations automatically. And if that isn't enough for you, the chairman of the British Police Superintendents Association is calling for a national database containing the DNA profile of every "man, woman, and child" in the country.
Posted by Phil at September 10, 2003 09:54 AM | TrackBack
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