[DOnS-iNiO-TNeĘ police computers GENOMENE SOMEONE, somewhere may know…]

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DOnS-iNiO-TNeĘ police computers GENOMENE SOMEONE, somewhere may know a lot more about you than you think. Informatin given quite inno¡cently when you sign on at the dole, go to the doctor, run an overdraft at the bank, or pay your income tax may end up in the hands of quite different people from those you gave * And talking of innocence, we are told the law exists to protect the weak and innocent but innocence is no longer enough to prevent you ending up on police files. If you're an active shop steward, a political activist or a squatter or even just against fox-hunting - if you fall into one of these 'suspicious' categories, ine vuus ait tven bicavet. that you'll be on a computer somewhere, even it yqu don't have a criminal record.

Private agencies - such as the agencies that supply credit ratings on request -abuse data collected for purposes other than that which they use it for. But it is the fast and massive growth of the state's role in this area which presents the greatest threat to democratic rights.

Government departments probably hold more information about us than other agencies, for example, quite legitimate information about tax, national insurance contributions and payments, vehicle ownership. Over 220 functions of central government involve computerised records.

However, no law restrains the departments in the way in which the information is used and the HAK.

MILITARY INTELLIENCE Bl IS A ICONTRADE ME IN TERMS International Telecommunication 25 October 1973 ARTNIE 23 forecy of Telecommunicatens Alson:• 000000: 0*02160 of the veil of state surveillance VIL FOLL surveillance

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in the first p decided whe delete inform -whether purposes oth which it is car licensing made avail police;

-whether tion is relev: pose for whir -whether secure;

- whether private;

-whether and what r has to exam data held ab 14444 He pos ›lace;how it en to add OI nation; • it is used for er than that for intended e.g.

labilerds beine te the informaant to the purch it is used;

is kept is kept it is accurate ¡hts a person le and correct ut them;

Lisal -how the. use of information is monitored and to whom the holders of it are accountable.

The way these factors come into play when the state starts collecting information about us will be examined by looking at the way three systems operate (insofar as it is possible to get definite information).

They are the PNC information about vehicles (a small part of the information held on the computer); the Thames Valley Police 'Collator' system, an experimental system

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centralising and computerising information gathered by the police locally; and the MI5 system mentioned above. The first two systems in particular reflect the shift in policing methods towards trawling information that may later prove to be related to some criminal or political activity regardless of whether the people on whom the information is being kept have broken the law or not.

In 1972 the Police Review said 'Police intelligence is now forward-looking, anticipating who is going to commit what, when and where and because it is so powerful it is frequently libellous."

(I won't go into the first issue of justification beyond saying that those who make up the state machine see its preservation as a task that justifies almost anything.

Successive governments, whether lory or Labour, have left the police and security services to get on with their job with as little disturbance as possible.

But for socialists and the labour movement the increased incursions of the State into areas of civil liberties can lead to a life-or -death threat and must be fought, whatever the justifications given in the name of 'fighting crime' or "national security'.)

The PNC is based centrallv at Hendon and is open to access from terminals held by regional police forces. It contains information on a number of fields, e.g. wanted or missing persons, criminal records and stolen or 'suspect' vehicles. It is estimated that there will be 4 million checks on names and 20 million on vehicles this year.

The information for the 'vehicle owners' index' comes from the DVLC at Swansea, where all vehicles are registered along with the names and addresses

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secrecy which covers all goverment departments applies specially to the ones