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Continuing my interest in this area and my concerns about Government data sharing (see my Headline on www.i-a-l.co.uk), I was intrigued by a headline in CILIP's 24th June Daily News: > Knowing me, knowing you > Larger databases, which are increasingly connected... The article at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1245483,00.html begins: "If you vote, you can do so because your name is on an electoral roll, a database managed by your council. That database is to become national or part of a linked national system. Meanwhile, your council is probably joining up much of the data it holds on you." I remain convinced - the more so given the Information Commissioner's concern about 'Function creep' in such databases - that the information profession and UKOLUG/CILIP need to keep abreast of, and lobby on, these issues. The government has said, and I have seen some evidence of it, that members of the public are to be informed about how personal data is to be used and shared. But I wonder how many readers knew that the local electoral register is to be shared around the country? Those of you who read News@UKOLUG will see in the next issue that I was the victim of some errant data sharing recently when I received a certificate for free prescriptions - presumably because the agency that hands them out made a mistake in reading the Tax Office data they use! The Guardian article is quite scary! It goes on to talk about a project that: "would allow you to change your address across all state agencies in one go, while the NHS Care Records Service will make your medical notes available to any walk-in centre or A&E ward you visit." See how easily that error can be shared! At the Government consultancy exercise on this information sharing, I and others voiced concerns about this and suggested that each citizen should have the right to examine data held about them, without cost and easily - perhaps at post offices - in order to prevent errors being compounded. But we seem to be moving well beyond the consultation already. Sometimes, its quite amazing how fast things move in government! Chris Armstrong UKOLUG Vice Chair UK eInformation Group [log in to unmask]