MPs warn that defence giant could give census secrets to US
MPs warn that defence giant could give census secrets to US spy chiefs Personal details from the next census could be disclosed to US authorities if an American defence company wins the contract to run it, the Treasury Select Committee says today. MPs on the committee are demanding that the Government seeks firm assurances that detailed information about the UK population will not be at risk of being handed to US intelligence agencies. <snip> Two companies, Lockheed Martin, the US defence group, and the German telecommunications company TSystems, are bidding for the £450 million contract to run the 2011 Census. The US Patriot Act allows personal data held by companies in the US to be made available to the intelligence agencies. <snip> “We remain concerned that the personal information gathered throught the 2011 Census could be subject to the United States Patriot Act and therefore we ask the Government to take clear legal advice and advice from the US State department and to publish it,” the Treasury Select Committee report says today. Lockheed Martin’s involvement in the census in Canada in 2006 fuelled pro-*test*-('")s leading to the creation of a new privacy taskforce there. <snip> http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3987594.ece

As I recall there's not very much sensitive information in the census, not syre what Uncle Sam could do with it. Although, given the increasing nosiness of our Westminster and Brussles masters, that may change.