Richard Thomas - Agenda Setters 2008

Name: Richard Thomas

Title: UK information commissioner

Position: 3    Last year: Not ranked

Why? Fighting to keep information safe

Agree with panel rating?

• Steve Jobs
• back to list
• Jimmy Wales

Richard Thomas has dominated headlines this year, from punishing government departments for a tide of data breaches, to fighting proposals for a super database of UK communications.

Information Commissioner since November 2002, he has been propelled into the public eye and the Agenda Setters top 10 by the spate of data breach revelations that followed HM Revenue and Customs losing 25 million people's child benefit records in 2007.

Thomas is now shaping the way Whitehall shares information, having co-authored the Data Sharing Review - a root and branch overhaul of the way data is handled by the public and private sector.

When he has not been demanding a shake-up of the way government handles public information, he's been speaking out against proposals to store all calls, internet and email traffic for 12 months - warning the government it would be "a step too far for the British way of life".

The Agenda Setters judges commended him for "setting the political and administrative agendas for the protection of personal data in this century in the UK" and for "firmly disciplining politicians, civil servants, the media and business folk into line".

All of which put the UK at the forefront of information security enforcement worldwide.

Thomas' powers could soon get a boost, if the government gives him the ability to raid organisations suspected of data breaches - a move which the judges bet would lead to more Agenda Setting in the years to come.