EU and US access threat to databases safety

3.12.54pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 18th Jan 2008

Reacting to plans for FBI access to the personal details of UK citizens, London Liberal Democrat MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford, Lib Dem European justice spokeswoman and an active member of the European Parliament's civil liberties committee, said:

"Schemes for transatlantic and European data swaps are running far ahead of the safeguards in place to prevent abuse of individuals' personal information. The latest news about UK cooperation with the FBI's 'Server in the Sky' project must set alarms bells ringing."

"The UK government is acting as a Trojan horse to obstruct adequate EU data protection and promote barely restrained US access. The US has become at British invitation the 28th member state at the table, with deplorable consequences for citizens' rights."

"At home the government stumbles from one data loss crisis to another, most spectacularly the personal details of all 25 million families with children. The dangers of putting masses of information about every citizen in the UK into one central database are therefore clear to all except Labour ministers."

"With under regulated leakage abroad of personal data, we face a looming crisis. I have called upon the European Commission to issue a green paper addressing data safety in the face of EU and international data-sharing risks, and I await a positive response."