UK – Tories pledge to end the database state (ZDNet)
The Conservative Party has promised to reduce government databases and introduce stronger measures to protect people’s privacy, if it wins the next general election. The shadow justice secretary, Dominic Grieve, introduced a policy paper, Reversing the Rise of the Surveillance State, that outlines 11 measures to achieve these goals. Overall, the Conservatives are calling for fewer massive central government databases, stronger data-protection rules and fewer access rights – for both central and local government – to the information that is already been stored. The party also pledged to introduce a greater focus on privacy, in both the public and private sectors.

(Via QuickLinks Update.)