By Polly Raymond, 24 July 2000 00:30
NEWS UK e-envoy Alex Allan has ruled out the possibility of any policy changes in response to the Powergen scandal. Allan was speaking to silicon.com about data protection regulation when he was asked to set out what the government plans to do to prevent any future personal data leaks. "I'm not going to leap in and say the government must do more regulation. I think that's the last thing industry or anybody would want to hear from the government - that we must come in and introduce a new swathe of regulation. This is something where there are clear standards and guidelines," he said. Allan said the security problems suffered by Powergen would encourage other companies to make the necessary safeguards themselves. The Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) - the only organisation that can take legal action against a company committing such a breach of privacy - last week told silicon.com that a massive work backlog would prevent immediate action being taken against Powergen. David Sear, chief operating officer at online payment company Worldpay, described the DPC's inaction as "scandalous". He also called on the government to take a more proactive role in preventing repeats of privacy breaches. Sear said: "What exactly are the government doing? They should be giving more guidance, they can't just sit back and say it's a problem for industry." Sear also called on companies themselves to take more care and added that companies like Powergen shouldn't be holding financial details in the first place.
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