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Privacy fears as Lockheed wins census contract

02/09/2008

Lockheed Martin, the multinational company based in the United States, has been handed the contract for the 2011 census, despite fears it could mean Britons' personal data is sent to American intelligence agencies.

Under the US patriot act it is possible for American intelligence bodies like the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to demand data held by US firms, potentially exposing details of the 2011 census.

The announcement from the Office of National Statistics came eight months later than expected, after a campaign by the Green party, Plaid Cymru and the Scottish national party (SNP) raised ethical problems with the contract.

"Despite the claims of the ONS, this contract is still fraught with problems," said Caroline Lucas, Green party principle speaker.

"It is worrying to see government agencies taking such a cavalier attitude to sensitive data, particularly in the wake of recent scandals in which data on millions of people has been lost by banks and public service contractors."

The terms of the contract specify that Lockheed Martin sub-contracts the data handling to UK and European companies, putting them outside the jurisdiction of the patriot act.

Put campaigners say there are more long-term regulatory problems.

"What happens, for example, if one of the UK sub-contractors is taken over by an American company after the contract is signed?" Ms Lucas asked.

"We maintain that the Census would be best conducted by teams of public employees, over which we have full scrutiny and control, not by private contractors with such close links to the US government."

Earlier in the year, a Treasury committee report asked for reassurances that British citizens' data would not end up in the hands of American intelligence agencies.

The sub-committee's chairman, Michael Fallon, told politics.co.uk the government had assured MPs the problem was not an issue and that advice had been taken.

"No one wants your personal details collected in one country to be available to the intelligence agencies in another country," Mr Fallon explained.

"It can be done [without that exposure] but you need to reassure people that their personal data will be safe."

Lockheed Martin is one of the world's foremost security contractors. Ninety-five per cent of its revenue comes from the US defence department.