This Will Go On Your Permanent Record

at

pod

The Government is making a database of primary schoolchildren.

The data [which will be shared with the department of Welfare and the HSE] will include medical and psychological assessments,religious and racial characteristics.

What could possibly go wrong?

Solicitor Simon McGarr writes:

This database, if leaked or misused, would compromise the identity security of every young person in the entire country. It would provide a treasure trove for blackmailers or identity thieves. It’s precisely because this sort of data is so red-hot radioactive that the Census data- the only collection comparable to this proposed datagrab- is given special legislative protections in the Statistics Act 1993.
Regrettably, it seems the Department of Education has not learned anything from the recent past.

Unanswered legal problems with the Government’s new database of children (Simon McGarr)

Primary Online Database (Education.ie)

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20 thoughts on “This Will Go On Your Permanent Record

  1. Drogg

    I want to thank Simon for all his work he has done on this. My eldest is starting school next year and frankly i don’t believe the dept of education needs any of the information that they are looking for to fill this database or do i think they need to store it for 30years long after my children will have left school.

  2. Nej

    This seems like a wonderful idea. I am sure that it’ll never be abused, leaked and will be secured by the best minds in the IT security business.

  3. les rock

    To me this seems like something our government would do. Its a cheap and easy solution to a far harder and bigger problem. Why are they doing this? It seems an ar** covering exercise in case something goes wrong. They are squashing a bug with a sledgehammer. This isn’t necessary. If they want a record of each child in school leave it to the school.

  4. les rock

    On another point. If someone can tell me how every time F.G. get into government, they stumble from one balls up to another

  5. scottser

    i presume there is an opt out? data protection legislation indicates information can only be stored for specific purposes and for only as long as that purpose has been fulfilled.

    1. Odis

      Children are a produced in the female reproductive organs, which are the property of the state, so I don’t see any difficulty with this one.

  6. Clampers Outside!

    special legislative protections in the Statistics Act 1993…. yeah right, is that why it was farmed out to be run by the yanks… who have nothing *cough* to do with the CIA.

    I wear my tinfoil hat on the outside.

    1. Cormac

      just to add any school that fails to produce or submit
      POD data for any pupil may have funding and allowances for that child withdrawn until such point as the information is fully returned.
      If a child’s PPS number cannot be obtained the department of education suggests adding mothers
      Maiden name so that a cross reference can happen within department of education and PPS of the child can be ascertained.

  7. Sinabhfuil

    I can see this being a lot of fun. I went to 10 schools, and know lots of other people who went to even more. Forgive me for saying this, teachers, but not all teachers are geniuses with th’oul database yokes. Entire school databases will get corrupted and infect the matrix; children’s details will be leaked, some damn malcontent will sue and win millions in damages. Popcorn, please!

  8. More_Bermuda_than_Berlin

    The TUI have already advised teachers that collecting this data is not part of their teaching remit, apparently.

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