The thing that shocks me the most is that they have passed the buck unconditionally to the Home Office as opposed to doing their own investigation in parallel with the Home Office with regards the privacy and data protection issues surrounding this matter; issues, I must add, which most certainly do fall under the ICO umbrella:
"The ICO is the UK's independent public body set up to promote access to official information and
protect personal information by promoting good practise, ruling on eligible complaints, providing information to individuals and organisations,
and taking appropriate action when the law is broken."
(emphasis added)(Source:
http://www.ico.gov.uk/about_us.aspx )
"What we do
We enforce the Data Protection Act, the Freedom of Information Act, the
Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations and the Environmental Information Regulations
...
We influence thinking on privacy and access issues
...
We prosecute those who commit offences under the legislation"
(emphasis added) (source:
http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documen...y/about_us.pdf )
I don't think I need to elaborate on any that now do I?
Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations <- looks like I have some heavy reading to do tonight...
Alexander Hanff