Assisted dying the digital way with a core consent delegation management repository

Guess what this is:

Transaction Date	Transaction Type	Merchant/Description	Debit/Credit	Balance
31-12-2014	GDS	***********************************************	-224.76	2,524.32
30-12-2014	BIS	********************************	-1,614.68	2,749.08
01-12-2014	GDS	***********************************************	-185.57	4,363.75
01-12-2014	GDS	******************************	-1,269.42	4,549.33
31-10-2014	GDS	**********	-1,066.21	5,818.75
30-10-2014	BIS	************************	826.43	6,884.96
30-09-2014	GDS	***************************	2,440.86	6,058.53
30-09-2014	GDS	************************	2,953.17	3,617.67
08-09-2014	BIS	***********************************************	-206.86	664.50
04-09-2014	BIS	***********************************************	-311.02	871.36

Give up?

Here's a clue:
In 1621, King James I directed the Privy Council to establish a temporary committee to investigate the causes of a decline in trade and consequent financial difficulties. 394 years later, the temporary committee is still with us, currently known as the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS).

In November 2011, nearly four years ago, BIS promised us midata, an initiative which was supposed to empower us consumers by giving us control over our own data.

"midata is about giving the public more control and access to their personal data. There are potentially endless possibilities", BIS told us and proceeded to list 10 of them starting with "midata could help you manage your returns and warranties".

It's not just returns and warranties. "midata also creates opportunities for new markets to develop where businesses help consumers use their data to make better consumption decisions and lifestyle choices". If only we consumers would agree to keep all our data up to date in a personal data store (PDS), then apps created by entrepreneurs in these burgeoning markets could process it and tell us what to do. Say goodbye to illogical decisions.

It's arrant nonsense of course. Not even Narcissus has the time or the inclination to "curate" himself, as they call it, by keeping his PDS up to date. There's no-one left on the planet stupid enough to hand over their personal data to an on-line stranger – think Ashley Madison. And this control BIS were talking about. Control over your personal data. Once you've handed the data over, you've got no control. You've lost it and it's not in BIS's gift to give it back to you.

A number of major suppliers including DMossEsq's bank had to humour BIS. No point upsetting a central government department. Play along. But there are limits. These suppliers have to make sure that their customers aren't harmed by midata. That's a practical matter of reputational survival. Any customer who suffers from midata is going to blame the bank, not James I.

And so they came up with the useless data shown in the opening table above*. DMossEsq clicked midata on his on-line banking service and, after reams of warnings not to show the data to anyone, the bank served up the last year's transactions on one of his little-used accounts.

You will note that DMossEsq received £2,953.17 from ************************ on 30 September last year and that he spent £185.57 with *********************************************** on 1 December. Whether he got a warranty isn't clear. Try making a logical decision based on that.

You can probably forget about the midata initiative now.

But the desire to get people to fill up a PDS with all their personal data and then pay a stranger to use it lives on.

In gradually more and more perverse ways.

The latest of which is exemplified by our old friends Mydex, who now advocate PDSs as an aid to considerate death, Personal empowerment means addressing the consent challenges we all face: "If transaction-based consent persists, what's needed is the ability to take a feed from each site's transactional processes that automatically drops every ticked consent box into the individual's core consent delegation management repository, part of their personal data store".

----------

* Dozens of transactions are not shown in the table, it's just an extract from DMossEsq's midata report. The transaction dates have been changed. So have the transaction types and the debit/credit amounts, with the balances updated accordingly. The merchant/description details have not been changed – that's exactly how they appear, as a variable number of asterisks.

Assisted dying the digital way with a core consent delegation management repository

Guess what this is:

Transaction Date	Transaction Type	Merchant/Description	Debit/Credit	Balance
31-12-2014	GDS	***********************************************	-224.76	2,524.32
30-12-2014	BIS	********************************	-1,614.68	2,749.08
01-12-2014	GDS	***********************************************	-185.57	4,363.75
01-12-2014	GDS	******************************	-1,269.42	4,549.33
31-10-2014	GDS	**********	-1,066.21	5,818.75
30-10-2014	BIS	************************	826.43	6,884.96
30-09-2014	GDS	***************************	2,440.86	6,058.53
30-09-2014	GDS	************************	2,953.17	3,617.67
08-09-2014	BIS	***********************************************	-206.86	664.50
04-09-2014	BIS	***********************************************	-311.02	871.36

Give up?

mirelationship with midata

"Today’s most successful businesses are the ones that are creative about building customer relationships". That's what Jo Swinson says. It's not obviously true. But she's the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) minister in charge of consumer affairs and that's how BIS have chosen to try to sell midata.

The consultancy advising BIS on midata, Ctrl-Shift, reckons that these days "the challenge (and opportunity) is to start building an information sharing relationship with customers where both sides use data sharing to save time, cut costs and be more efficient – and to add new value". If you're in any doubt, just remember that "far-sighted managers recognise the ground is shifting under their feet. If they don’t adapt they risk medium to long-term isolation and marginalisation". Are you far-sighted? Or isolated and marginalised.

That message is reiterated by Mydex, the personal data store (PDS) company. Mydex is closely related to both Ctrl-Shift and BIS and they say that PDSs "transform relationships between individuals and organisations to both sides’ benefit" (p.7). And from his position on the midata strategy board, the chairman of Mydex seems to have convinced BIS that midata needs PDSs to work.

The relationship in question is generally between individuals who buy products and services and the companies that sell them. But according to the Young Foundation last November Mydex and its PDSs will also transform the relationship between "the citizen and the state" – "It is a bit like flipping a world where companies engage in ‘customer relationship management’ into one in which individuals engage in ‘vendor relationship management’. Now the citizen is in charge".

And that same promise is made by the Cabinet Office in connection with data-sharing: "Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude today [25 April 2012] made a statement in response [to an article in the Guardian], pointing to the Government’s commitment to putting the citizen in charge, not the state".

Do you believe Mr Maude? Do you even understand what he's saying? You'll be "in charge", not the state – what does that mean?

Are the Young Foundation right when they suggest that the result of sharing your data with, say, Nestlé will be to put you in charge of the company? In what way will telling Nestlé that you like Gold Blend^® be to your benefit? What are Mydex talking about? And do you think that Nestlé will be isolated and marginalised if you don't tell them?

Is Jo Swinson right that the most successful companies are those that build a relationship with you and that midata will make the economy grow? Before you answer, would it help to know that BIS's own economist working on midata – David Miller – isn't convinced?

Do you want to be badgered all day every day with a lot of nosy questions about your Gold Blend^® consumption? If you ask Norman Lamb, Jo Swinson's predecessor at BIS, what all this relationship lark amounts to, that seems to be the intention: "midata also creates opportunities for new markets to develop where businesses help consumers use their data to make better consumption decisions and lifestyle choices" (p.10).

And how much do you think you'll have to pay for all this helpful lifestyle advice?

What we seem to have here is a concerted campaign whose stated objectives give rise to a lot of questions the answers to which are not obvious. The only effect of this campaign that is clear is that you will hand over all/a lot of your personal data to companies and government departments. Is that what you would like to do? Why?

Remember that Mydex is not just a PDS supplier – it is also one of the UK's eight appointed "identity providers". As part of Mr Maude's Identity Assurance Programme (IDAP), Mydex's job will be to confirm that you are you when you apply for Universal Credit, for example, or when you attempt any other digital-by-default on-line transaction with the government.

You don't think, do you, that a PDS is actually a sort of dematerialised ID card? And that that's actually why all the jovial souls above want you to organise all your data for them? To make IDAP work. At least that would make sense, unlike all the strange claims above.

IDAP was meant to be "fully operational" by March 2013, four months ago. That's what Mr Maude's Government Digital Service (GDS) promised, and there's no sign of it yet. Once these chaps have got used to missing deadlines it tends to become habit-forming. So there's no need to hurry. Take your time before making your mind up.

But if you do ever find yourself being tempted to sign up to midata, do remember that it's not a trivial decision, as Mydex themselves warned everyone the other day ("MIL" = midata Innovation Lab):

MIL volunteers "offer up their body for science"; ie share Midata with MIL organisations. Thus a few help make it safe for many. — Mydex CIC (@MydexCIC) July 9, 2013

mirelationship with midata

"Today’s most successful businesses are the ones that are creative about building customer relationships". That's what Jo Swinson says. It's not obviously true. But she's the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) minister in charge of consumer affairs and that's how BIS have chosen to try to sell midata.

midata and the BBC. The BBC?

from Craig Belsham's midata blog: Hi I’m Dan, Director of the midata Innovation Lab, part of the midata voluntary programme ... we will help empower UK consumers in a really meaningful way ...

The BBC are not paid to talk twaddle with a lot of armchair economists.

They are wasting our money,

they shouldn't have joined in the first place

and they should resign from mIL now.

Following last week's exciting launch of the midata Innovation Lab (mIL), now that the party's over, let's take a look at the structure of the organisation. It's a partnership apparently, "a collaboration of the following 22 Founding Partners, respected organisations collaborating with real data to work out how the UK both empowers and protects consumers whilst innovating with data":

Back in November 2011, the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) issued a press release saying:

Businesses and organisations that have so far committed to working in partnership with Government to achieve the midata vision are: - Avoco Secure - billmonitor - British Gas - Callcredit - EDF Energy - E.ON - Garlik - Google - Lloyds Banking Group - MasterCard - Moneysupermarket.com - Mydex - npower - RBS - Scottish Power - Scottish Southern Energy - The UK Cards Association - Three - Visa

That's 19 businesses from Avoco Secure to Visa, of whom only three remain "committed to working in partnership with Government to achieve the midata vision". Why have the other 16 dropped out?

The press release also said:

The following consumer groups and regulators are working with midata to represent consumers' interests and concerns. As well as working towards potential benefits, their input plays an important role in identifying potential risks and helping determine how these can be addressed: - Citizens Advice - Communications Consumer Panel - Consumer Focus - Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) - OFCOM - Office of Fair Trading (OFT) - Which?

That's seven consumer groups/regulators, of whom only two are left. Why have the other five pulled out?

And why are there still 22 Founding Partners left?

What, for example, is the University of Southampton doing on the list?

Their expertise is in oceanography. Nothing to do with midata.

The answer is all to do with the Open Data Institute (ODI), who are also on the list of Founding Partners. The ODI is headed by Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt. They are both professors at Southampton and presumably the university has come along for the ride.

But they shouldn't be there. The ODI is all about open data. Public data. The opposite of what midata is meant to be about, which is personal data. Private data. The two should not be confused. Nigel Shadbolt himself says so:

@DMossEsq #opendata and #midata are entirely distinct varieties of data - and it is essential that people understand the difference — Nigel Shadbolt (@Nigel_Shadbolt) June 10, 2013

But there they are, the ODI and Southampton and, what's more, Professor Shadbolt is chairman of the midata programme as well as chairman of the ODI. This is a mess.

The inclusion of O2, Telefonica and Verizon among the founding partners makes a bit of midata sense. The idea behind midata is that consumers should be able to get better value from their phone contracts. Ofcom have failed to ensure good value for money. Having O2, Telefonica and Verizon involved will help to make sure that midata fails as well.

The link between midata and the Government Digital Service's failed Identity Assurance Programme (IDAP) isn't always obvious to other people but readers of this blog will remember that Verizon is one of the UK's eight appointed "identity providers".

from Craig Belsham's midata blog: My name is Stephen and I head up the work on consumer confidence and trust which is part of the midata voluntary programme ... A data-enabled online market place will create new services that will take your data and do some really interesting things with it ...

They will also remember that, thanks to Edward Snowden, we now know that Verizon hands over its data to the US National Security Agency (NSA), who may or may not share it with the UK's GCHQ. Your personal data may travel via midata even further than Southampton.

The idea behind midata is (also) that consumers should get better value for money from their gas and electricity contracts. It is precisely because Ofgem have failed on that score (along with the Prime Minister) that BIS assert that midata is needed. Having Ofgem and npower on board – as oceanographers say – will ensure that midata fails as well.

midata is meant to help consumers to get better value for money from their current accounts and their debit/credit cards. That's a job MoneySupermarket.com already work at and have done for years which, in turn, is another reason why midata is unnecessary.

from Craig Belsham's midata blog: I’m Richard and I chair one of the expert working groups looking at what we need to do to ensure that consumers can be confident when they allow their data to be passed to and used by third parties who are developing new and innovative applications to aggregate and use existing data in a way that brings benefits to users of these new services ... A data rich economy will allow lots of innovative companies to create brand new services that will enable you to take your data and do some really interesting things with it ...

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) exists to ensure that personal data remains private and that public data is disclosed unless it is exempt under the Freedom of Information Act. If the ICO doesn't close down mIL in the next few days, then it's not doing its job.

Mydex provides personal data stores (PDSs). midata relies on PDSs. That's the way BIS have designed it with the assistance of the midata strategy board. The chairman of Mydex is a member of the midata strategy board. BIS also retain Ctrl-Shift as consultants to advise them on midata. Ctrl-Shift advise BIS to use Mydex and, as readers of this blog know, Alan Mitchell, the director of Ctrl-Shift, set up Mydex with William Heath, the chairman of Mydex, the one who is also a member of the midata strategy board, and Mr Heath used to be a director of Ctrl-Shift and he retains a material shareholding in Ctrl-Shift, so you can understand why BIS, Mydex and Ctrl-Shift are among the Founding Partners of mIL.

Also, of course, Mydex is a UK-appointed  "identity provider", like Verizon, reinforcing the link to IDAP.

Jo Swinson is the successor at BIS to Norman Lamb who was the successor to Ed Davey. She wrote an article about midata which was published by Which?, who hosted a lengthy debate about the article on their website – 54 comments. No-one – including Which? – could see how midata would deliver the benefits that Jo Swinson and BIS promised.

Norman Lamb published a report on midata and launched a consultation on it. Question 6 of the consultation is: "What types of new services might be offered by intermediaries (such as, price comparison websites) and what could be the value of this new market?". In their response, Which? said, in full: "Which? has no comment on this question".

On the other hand, they wrote several pages in their response about the dangers of identity theft/fraud and the dangers of the loss of privacy. Are Which? satisfied that these dangers will not be exacerbated by midata? If so, why? And if not, will they, like the ICO, do their job of protecting consumers and warn people against midata?

In the case of all the Founding Partners named so far you can see why they are included in mIL. Even if, like the ODI, they shouldn't be.

But the BBC? What are the BBC doing there? They're a public service broadcaster. That's what the licence fee payers pay them to do. The BBC are not paid to talk twaddle with a lot of armchair economists. They are wasting our money, they shouldn't have joined in the first place and they should resign from mIL now.

When Ed Davey first announced midata, the BBC's own technology correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones, asked "what's the catch for consumers and why is the government getting involved?". To which we may now add, why is the BBC getting involved?

midata and the BBC. The BBC?

from Craig Belsham's midata blog: Hi I’m Dan, Director of the midata Innovation Lab, part of the midata voluntary programme ... we will help empower UK consumers in a really meaningful way ...

The BBC are not paid to talk twaddle with a lot of armchair economists.

They are wasting our money,

they shouldn't have joined in the first place

and they should resign from mIL now.

Following last week's exciting launch of the midata Innovation Lab (mIL), now that the party's over, let's take a look at the structure of the organisation. It's a partnership apparently, "a collaboration of the following 22 Founding Partners, respected organisations collaborating with real data to work out how the UK both empowers and protects consumers whilst innovating with data":

midata – the simple question posed by Which?

BIS – abandon midata as a bad job. Now.

Is it safe? Yes or no?
In their 3 November 2011 press release Government, business and consumer groups commit to midata vision of consumer empowerment, the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) said:

The following consumer groups and regulators are working with midata to represent consumers' interests and concerns. As well as working towards potential benefits, their input plays an important role in identifying potential risks and helping determine how these can be addressed: - Citizens Advice - Communications Consumer Panel - Consumer Focus - Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) - OFCOM - Office of Fair Trading (OFT) - Which?

Now, 14 months later, we are still none the wiser how midata would "empower" consumers.

If the regulators in the list above had succeeded in their task, then no-one would be considering midata. We are still none the wiser how midata could succeed where the regulators have failed.

Jo Swinson MP is the Minister responsible for midata and she posted an article on the Which? blog last month, What if companies gave me control of my data?. What indeed. We are still none the wiser how midata could give consumers control of their data. That control depends on changes in the law worldwide and those changes are not in BIS's gift.

What about Which? themselves? The Consumers' Association. Where do they stand on midata?

The Which? response to BIS's midata consultation opens by saying that midata is a good idea and then spends several pages describing the dangers of identity theft which would be exacerbated by midata. So which is it? Are they in favour, or not?

As you would expect from the most respected consumer group in the country, with 56 years of worthy service behind them, Which? run a commendably open blog. And in one of the comments on the Jo Swinson article Which?'s in-house lawyer, Georgina Nelson, highlights the risks associated with midata and says (17 January 2013 at 11:40 am):

Our position has always been that our support for the midata programme is contingent upon addressing these issues.

The title of BIS's 3 November 2011 press release is misleading. Which?, at least, are not "committed to the midata vision". Their support is, quite rightly, contingent.

It's up to BIS to demonstrate that midata would be safe. Failing that, Which? can't support it.

It's hard to imagine that anyone else could support it either.

So – question: can BIS demonstrate that midata would be safe for consumers? Yes or no? They can't tell us how it would empower us or how it would give us control over our data but can they at least convince us that midata would be safe?

If not, perhaps BIS would like to abandon midata as a bad job now and promote consumer empowerment in some effective way.

Which? could no doubt make several suggestions how BIS could spend their time and our money better.

midata – the simple question posed by Which?

BIS – abandon midata as a bad job. Now.

Is it safe? Yes or no?
In their 3 November 2011 press release Government, business and consumer groups commit to midata vision of consumer empowerment, the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) said:

The following consumer groups and regulators are working with midata to represent consumers' interests and concerns. As well as working towards potential benefits, their input plays an important role in identifying potential risks and helping determine how these can be addressed: - Citizens Advice - Communications Consumer Panel - Consumer Focus - Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) - OFCOM - Office of Fair Trading (OFT) - Which?

Now, 14 months later, we are still none the wiser how midata would "empower" consumers.

If the regulators in the list above had succeeded in their task, then no-one would be considering midata. We are still none the wiser how midata could succeed where the regulators have failed.

midata – dumb marketing

Do you feel resentful? Permanently? About everything?

Are you susceptible to blatant mercenary manipulation?

Are you a helpless consumer? You see it and you have to buy it?

Then midata is the scheme for you. Here's the Daily Mirror on 17 November 2012 trying to sell the scheme to you in its Money • Personal finance • Shopping section:

Quids in: How new Midata scheme will create your own personal data bank Imagine always getting the cheapest deal on anything you buy, from clothes to energy bills and mobile phone contracts. Imagine never having to worry about keeping receipts or warranty documents when you buy something new for your home. And imagine being able to check that you are always buying the healthiest and cheapest food. That is what the future may hold under a new Government scheme to make firms give you the data they keep on your spending habits. At the moment firms can gather information about a customer and use it for themselves – without sharing it with the person whose details they have stored. The scheme would allow people to access this information and download it on to their “midata” web account. They could then key the data into consumer websites to find money-saving deals on everything from bank accounts to a big night out. It is hoped the scheme will eventually include supermarkets to help customers eat more healthily by showing the fat and salt content as well as all the best food deals. Consumer affairs minister Jo Swinson said that the “midata” scheme is about turning the tables on big retailers and putting power into the hands of consumers. “Many businesses reap huge commercial benefits from the information they gather from consumers’ daily spending patterns,” she said. “Why shouldn’t consumers also benefit from this by having access to their own data to enable them to make better choices?”

Perhaps when Lord Leveson's recommendations are implemented all journalism will be like this – from Whitehall PR handout to printed page/iNewspaper app with nary an intervening intellectual delay.

Until that day, remember that with midata the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) are luring you into a dangerous place, putting all your personal data on the web, in the cloud, with a trusted third party you've never met and have no reason to trust. You know that. You know that the web is a dangerous place. There's no reason to believe that midata will save you money or help the UK economy to grow. BIS know that. They're just doing GDS's dirty work for them. (GDS is the Government Digital Service.)

You may have some residual doubts. Perhaps the banks and the major retailers really do know so much about you that they can predict your every whim and take advantage of you? There are mooncalves who believe that. But do you?

You shouldn't.

Consider four cases:

1. Three months ago DMossEsq booked a stay at a hotel in Madrid. He made the booking on the hotel's website. Then he opened the Guardian newspaper website. And there, alongside the article he wanted to read, was an advertisement for that very same hotel. Spooky? A bit. Maybe. Clearly Google was keeping track of his web browsing and serving up ads accordingly. But never mind spooky, it was just stupid. DMossEsq had already booked the hotel. The ad was too late. And useless.
2. That's Google. How about a brilliant retailer like Amazon? Maybe they're better at this marketing lark? Not obviously. Some years ago, DMossEsq bought a TV through Amazon. Then Amazon started sending him emails trying to inveigle him into buying a TV. Too late. He'd already bought one. As Amazon should have known.
3. OK, if not the retailers, how about the banks? They know just about everything DMossEsq spends his money on. Are they more effective? No. One of DMossEsq's bank accounts went dormant a few months ago, there had been no movement for several years. The bank informed him that they were going to close the account. We agreed where the balance should be transferred to, an active account, the money was duly transferred, the old account was duly closed – everything tickety-boo. Then a glossy sheet of marketing turned up in the post identifying the closed account and saying "you have been pre-selected for a Barclaycard Cashback Business credit card". Brilliant. A credit card on a closed account that the bank knew was closed because they'd just closed it.
4. Do you know anyone who has ever bought anything from an ad-server? Goods? Services? Anything? Ever?

Do you still feel resentful at the power these suppliers have over you in virtue of their knowledge of your spending habits? That's what GDS and BIS want you to feel. They think you're stupid.

Or do you just feel sorry about all us schmuks paying higher retail prices because hotels, shops and banks are wasting their budget on useless marketing services from search engine companies, on-line retailers and whoever Barclays have outsourced their direct marketing to?

midata – dumb marketing

Do you feel resentful? Permanently? About everything?

Are you susceptible to blatant mercenary manipulation?

Are you a helpless consumer? You see it and you have to buy it?

midata, the loneliest initiative in Whitehall – 10

Governing people is difficult. Too difficult.

Whitehall have given up.

midata is part of their alternative plan.

Governing personal data stores will be much easier.

--- o O o ---

Why is billmonitor called "billmonitor"?

billmonitor, if you remember, is a service which advises consumers what the best mobile phone tariff is for them to be on. The company behind this service is a keen supporter of midata, the Department for Business Innovation and Skills initiative, and is "Part of the government Midata board". midata is dedicated to getting the best deal for consumers, whether we're talking about mobile phone contracts or choosing the right gas and electricity suppliers or any other decision including health, education and employment decisions.

It all seems to make sense.

Until you notice that billmonitor has been in business for seven years or so and seems to have survived and maybe even thrived for all that time without needing midata.


Let's leave that for the moment, and try another question.

BIS are currently conducting a consultation on midata. They're interested in our answers to 22 questions. Questions 7, 8 and 9 are as follows:

Question 7: Should a consumer be able to require the business to supply the data in electronic format directly to a specified third party? Question 8: Should a third party who is duly authorised by the consumer be able to seek the consumer’s data in electronic format directly from the supplier? Question 9: What, if any, requirements should be placed on the secondary users of such data, albeit under the direction of consumers e.g. switching and advice sites?

Third parties? Secondary users? What on earth are they talking about?


And another thing. Who do you think wrote the following?

Every day, all around the world, thousands of IT systems are compromised. Some are attacked purely for the kudos of doing so, others for political motives, but most commonly they are attacked to steal money or commercial secrets. Are you confident that your cyber security governance regime minimises the risks of this happening to your business? My experience suggests that in practice, few companies have got this right.

Answer – Iain Lobban, the Director of GCHQ, in the Foreword to 10 steps to cyber security, one of the documents referred to in yesterday's 5 September 2012 press release issued by BIS, Business leaders urged to step up response to cyber threats, in which Vince Cable, Secretary of State at BIS, announces a new initiative to get business leaders to take the threat of cyber attacks seriously.

Few companies have got cyber security right, according to GCHQ, and yet there's the same Secretary of State, Vince Cable, promoting midata and urging us all to store our personal data on the web. It seems confused. Schizophrenic even. What's going on?


Last question. Professor Shadbolt was on You and Yours yesterday, the BBC Radio 4 consumer affairs programme (16'21" to 22'35"), chatting amiably about midata, the benefits of which would be legion but he couldn't name any. He's an intelligent man. What's he doing giving such a vapid interview?


billmonitor is called "billmonitor" because it monitors your bills. You don't just hand over your last few months' mobile phone bills, once-off, billmonitor recommends that you switch from tariff X to tariff Y and that's the end of the relationship. No, you hand over your mobile phone no., your user ID and your password, and billmonitor logs on to your phone company and sits there monitoring your phone usage until Doomsday, occasionally issuing recommendations to switch from this contract to that.

billmonitor is one of these "third parties" referred to in the BIS consultation whom you authorise to access data from your suppliers. And when billmonitor processes your mobile phone consumption data they become, in the terminology of BIS's consultation, "secondary users" of the data.

You the consumer have to be very trusting to give a stranger, billmonitor, access to your phone account. Particularly in light of GCHQ's claim that most companies have faulty cyber security, including perhaps billmonitor and all the telcos they are logged in to.

BIS want us all to take that risk. For midata. There must be something in midata that BIS prize so highly, they are even prepared to recommend that we run the associated risks of cyber-crime, the financial risks and the loss of privacy.

Whatever that something is, that BIS prize so highly, it's too embarrassing for Professor Shadbolt to tell us what it is.

So it's a good job that William Heath now has told us.

William Heath, remember, is the Mydex and Ctrl-Shift man, and a few hours ago he published To understand BIS’ midata proposal it helps to understand Mydex on the Mydex blog:

The Government’s midata consultation to give consumers a statutory right to their data in electronic format affects every individual, and every major company holding customer data in the UK. But it cannot be properly understood in isolation of wider imminent changes in how personal data is managed, shared, controlled and valued. Mydex is all about that bigger picture. So we’ve drafted a briefing note particularly for organisations responding to the midata consultation. We support midata. It will empower individuals and at last give real teeth to the good intentions behind the Data Protection Act subject access request. It goes hand in hand with the new UK and US approaches to ID assurance [emphasis added], which we also support. We think midata needs to apply also to other UK public services including health, education and job-seeking.

The Mydex "briefing note" referred to above, Making midata work for you, explains the benefits of a Mydex PDS (personal data store). Among others:

Digital by default. If the individual agrees, organisations can establish live, permanent links to key fields (such as home address and contact details) in the individual’s data store, receiving live status updates ... Empowering. Mydex has a distributed cloudbased [oh good] hyper-secure [see GCHQ above] architecture ...

billmonitor just collects data from your suppliers. Mydex goes one step further – after collecting the data, Mydex distributes updates from one supplier to all the other suppliers who might need to know what's changed.

Having once given your permission, you're no longer involved. You're no longer needed. "Empowered" by midata, in "control" of your data, you've become digital by default.

Which is lucky, because the government wants all public services to become digital by default, too.

And with the identity assurance provided by Mydex, they can. If everyone has a PDS and if the PDS is a requirement of every transaction, then Government can at last be transformed.

As the BBC tell us, a few clauses in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill so worthy and dull that it won't be scrutinised by many people will arm BIS with order-making powers. Thereafter, statutory instruments can be quietly laid down, unscrutinised by anyone, and midata will have all the powers of identity assurance that the Government Digital Service could wish for.

Governing people is difficult. Too difficult. Whitehall have given up. midata is part of their alternative plan. That's what the bashful Professor Shadbolt didn't want to say. Governing PDSs will be much easier.

midata, the loneliest initiative in Whitehall – 10

Governing people is difficult. Too difficult.

Whitehall have given up.

midata is part of their alternative plan.

Governing personal data stores will be much easier.

--- o O o ---

Why is billmonitor called "billmonitor"?

billmonitor, if you remember, is a service which advises consumers what the best mobile phone tariff is for them to be on. The company behind this service is a keen supporter of midata, the Department for Business Innovation and Skills initiative, and is "Part of the government Midata board". midata is dedicated to getting the best deal for consumers, whether we're talking about mobile phone contracts or choosing the right gas and electricity suppliers or any other decision including health, education and employment decisions.

It all seems to make sense.

Until you notice that billmonitor has been in business for seven years or so and seems to have survived and maybe even thrived for all that time without needing midata.


Let's leave that for the moment, and try another question.

GreenInk 9 – Vince Cable and the re-shuffle

Let's see if the Telegraph publish this letter:

From: David Moss Sent: 05 September 2012 11:34 To: 'dtletters@telegraph.co.uk' Subject: James Kirkup, 04 Sep 2012, 'Free-market Tories arrive to reel in Vince Cable' http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9521389/Free-market-Tories-arrive-to-reel-in-Vince-Cable.html Sir In many cases "free-market Tories" will find it difficult to "reel in Vince Cable" at the Department for Business Innovation and Skills but there is one simple step forward they can take quickly – cancel BIS's confused 'midata' initiative. Three examples of confusion. 1. BIS wish to take order-making powers to implement 'midata'. They describe this increase in regulation as having a de-regulatory effect. 2. 'midata' is meant to expand the UK economy but BIS agree that it is impossible to predict its macroeconomic effect, which could well be negative. 3. midata is meant to empower consumers. BIS want us consumers to store all our personal data on the web which, far from empowering us, will lay us open to mass identity theft. If the free-market Tories can stop officials wasting their time and our money on 'midata', that will be a valuable first day's work at BIS. Yours David Moss

GreenInk 9 – Vince Cable and the re-shuffle

Let's see if the Telegraph publish this letter:

From: David Moss Sent: 05 September 2012 11:34 To: 'dtletters@telegraph.co.uk' Subject: James Kirkup, 04 Sep 2012, 'Free-market Tories arrive to reel in Vince Cable' http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9521389/Free-market-Tories-arrive-to-reel-in-Vince-Cable.html Sir In many cases "free-market Tories" will find it difficult to "reel in Vince Cable" at the Department for Business Innovation and Skills but there is one simple step forward they can take quickly – cancel BIS's confused 'midata' initiative. Three examples of confusion. 1. BIS wish to take order-making powers to implement 'midata'. They describe this increase in regulation as having a de-regulatory effect. 2. 'midata' is meant to expand the UK economy but BIS agree that it is impossible to predict its macroeconomic effect, which could well be negative. 3. midata is meant to empower consumers. BIS want us consumers to store all our personal data on the web which, far from empowering us, will lay us open to mass identity theft. If the free-market Tories can stop officials wasting their time and our money on 'midata', that will be a valuable first day's work at BIS. Yours David Moss

midata, the loneliest initiative in Whitehall – 9

BIS prove that midata is unnecessary.
Would you give a complete list of your acquaintance to a stranger?
Do you believe there is such a thing as a secure website?
Why keep a regulator and bark yourself?

--- o O o ---

Talk about lonely.

On 3 November 2011, Ed Davey MP posted 'Giving consumers the midata touch' on the the Department for Business Innovation and Skills blog and that was it – for 305 days, Mr Davey's post sat there all on its own.

Then yesterday, 3 September 2012, a second post was delivered, 'Why my data is important data', written by Stelios Koundouros, the "founder and director of billmonitor.com".

Mr Koundouros describes a number of his company's achievements, helping people since 2005 to choose the right mobile phone tariff. These successes have been achieved without there being any midata. They have been achieved using the mobile phone operators' tariffs and people's mobile phone consumption data both of which are released by the Telcos without there being any midata.

billmonitor.com's success is the neatest proof BIS could possibly have offered that midata is unnecessary.

So why does Mr Koundouros write the following, given that his story proves the exact opposite?

The implementation of the ‘midata’ vision is without doubt a prerequisite for ending confusion facing UK consumers about how much they pay for goods and services.

We are told that:

Stelios Koundouros is founder and director of billmonitor.com, and has led the company’s efforts since 2005. He holds a PhD in mathematics from Cambridge University and has carried out research at the Mathematical Institute at Oxford.

We are not told – but it is the case – that billmonitor.com is one of the 19 companies which initially expressed interest in midata, and that it is "Part of the government Midata board", according to the billmonitor.com home page. Perhaps that is why Mr Koundouros writes as he does.

There's nothing wrong with Mr Koundouros expressing his support for midata, even if he does undermine his own case. Just don't let BIS give you the impression that his is independent support.

The billmonitor.com website says:

Only you can make spending decisions Bank level data encryption

Why this level of security?

Because, remember, in order to use the billmonitor.com service, you have to give them months and months of your detailed phone bills, they will know who you call, how often, for how long, and who you text. That personal data needs to be protected, and thus the "bank level data encryption".

Do you mind telling a total stranger as a result, who your friends and colleagues are? The people you call? Might they mind?

Do you trust Mr Koundouros's security measures?

The US Government trusted HBGary Federal's security, and just look what happened when the hackers decided to drive a coach and horses through it:

... A second example is Anonymous’ perhaps most striking operation, a devastating assault on HBGary Federal, a technology security company. HBGary’s clients included the US government and companies like McAfee. The firm with the tag-line detecting tomorrow’s malware today had analyzed GhostNet and Aurora, two of the most sophisticated known threats. In early February 2011, Aaron Barr, then its chief executive officer (CEO), wanted more public visibility and announced that his company had infiltrated Anonymous and planned to disclose details soon. In reaction, Anonymous hackers: infiltrated HBGary’s servers, erased data, defaced its website with a letter ridiculing the firm ... ... with a download link to a leak of more than 40,000 of its emails to The Pirate Bay, took down the company’s phone system, usurped the CEO’s twitter stream, posted his social security number, and clogged up fax machines. Anonymous activists had used a number of methods, including SQL injection, a code injection technique that exploits faulty database requests. ‘You brought this upon yourself. You’ve tried to bite the Anonymous hand, and now the Anonymous hand is bitch-slapping you in the face’, said the letter posted on the firm’s website.  The attack badly pummeled the security company’s reputation.

Stories like that are two-a-penny and you can read about 25 penceworth here. After which, you may wonder how secure billmonitor.com or any other website is.

Iran, which has suffered a number of cyber-attacks, has given up the ghost and decided to "move key ministries and state bodies off the worldwide internet". Meanwhile, in the name of midata, here's BIS luring you into storing your personal data in the custody of complete strangers on servers which could be anywhere in the world, much of which is beyond the jurisdiction of English law and emphatically out of your control.

The billmonitor.com website also says:

billmonitor was the first mobile comparison site approved by Ofcom in 2009

No doubt it was. It is Ofcom's job to regulate the Telcos. Why do we need billmonitor.com as well? And midata? If Ofcom can't do the job, why should midata be able to? Why keep a regulator and bark yourself? Surely the public interest is served by having the regulator do its job properly, and not by expensively doubling up on regulation.

midata, the loneliest initiative in Whitehall – 9

BIS prove that midata is unnecessary.
Would you give a complete list of your acquaintance to a stranger?
Do you believe there is such a thing as a secure website?
Why keep a regulator and bark yourself?

--- o O o ---

Talk about lonely.

On 3 November 2011, Ed Davey MP posted 'Giving consumers the midata touch' on the the Department for Business Innovation and Skills blog and that was it – for 305 days, Mr Davey's post sat there all on its own.

Then yesterday, 3 September 2012, a second post was delivered, 'Why my data is important data', written by Stelios Koundouros, the "founder and director of billmonitor.com".

Mr Koundouros describes a number of his company's achievements, helping people since 2005 to choose the right mobile phone tariff. These successes have been achieved without there being any midata. They have been achieved using the mobile phone operators' tariffs and people's mobile phone consumption data both of which are released by the Telcos without there being any midata.

billmonitor.com's success is the neatest proof BIS could possibly have offered that midata is unnecessary.

midata, the loneliest initiative in Whitehall – 8

BIS's midata initiative raises two questions for you.

Would you trust a complete stranger to store all your personal data?

And would you trust a lot of other complete strangers

(BIS's currently non-existent applications developers)

to process that data?

You might. If you're mad.

--- o O o ---

Coverage in the media of the Department for Business Innovation and Skills's lonely midata initiative remains scant.

The BBC reported on 22 August 2012, in 'Midata project plan for compulsory customer data', that ...

Consumer Minister Norman Lamb said: "It's clear to me that giving consumers the right to access their own transaction data promises huge opportunities for both consumers themselves and UK businesses."

... without pausing to ask how it's clear to Norman Lamb when it isn't clear to anyone else.

On 23 August 2012 ComputerWorldUK published 'Government threatens legal action against midata laggards'. Clearly the days of midata being a friendly voluntary initiative are long gone.

Retail Gazette carried an odd article on 30 August 2012, 'Why are retailers so afraid of Midata?' – odd, because there's no evidence that retailers are afraid of midata. Why would they be?

And then there's this week's Economist, 'Shameless self-promotion – Britain wants to lead the world in exploiting consumer data':

Britain is already “streets ahead” of most countries in liberating consumer data, says Liz Brandt of Ctrl-Shift, a marketing consultancy ...

Ctrl-Shift? Ring a bell? It should, please see 'The case for midata – the answer is a mooncalf'. Someone has posted a comment on the Economist website advising the magazine and its readers who Ctrl-Shift are:

The point of quoting Ctrl-Shift here is presumably to introduce an element of independent objectivity. Ctrl-Shift Ltd was incorporated on 26 January 2009, according to Companies House. Alan Mitchell was appointed a Director on 13 May 2009 and William Heath on 16 July 2010. Mr Heath's appointment was terminated on 10 May 2012. Mydex Ltd was incorporated on 18 February 2008 according to Companies House. Alan Mitchell is Head of Strategy and William Heath is Chairman, according to the Mydex website. In their report The new personal data landscape Ctrl-Shift discuss the Personal Data Stores (PDSs) that would be needed for midata and recommend the PDS supplier Mydex. In their 3 November 2011 press release about midata, the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) list the 19 commercial organisations that have agreed to collaborate with them on midata. The list includes Mydex. At the 9 August 2012 open forum on midata held by BIS, Kirstin Green, a Deputy Director at BIS, said that William Heath (ex of Ctrl-Shift and still Chairman of Mydex) is on the BIS Strategy Board for midata. In this case, no element of independence has been introduced. The Economist find themselves effectively quoting midata saying that midata is a Good Thing.

The fact that William Heath is on the midata strategy board is news but nothing else is, not for long-time DMossEsq readers.

In their 3 November 2011 press release, BIS listed 19 commercial organisations who had signed up to midata. No-one else has signed up since to this lonely initiative, even after the government threats of legal action reported by ComputerWorldUK.

Among those 19 was Mydex, Mr Heath's company, the company promoted by Ctrl-Shift, Mr Heath's ex-company, which is a paid consultant to BIS.

What readers may not know is that the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) have invested in a number of companies including Mydex, please see p.24 of their document, 'Ensuring trust in digital services'. Pump-priming, fine, funding R&D, government "picking winners", no problem with that.

The TSB organised an exhibition of the products of these R&D companies on 31 October 2011, just a few days before the BIS press release. The event is reported by ex-Guardian man Mike Bracken on the Cabinet Office's Government Digital Service blog, 'Establishing trust in digital services'. We attendees were treated at the same time to a number of talks given by GDS, including a talk by Francis Maude himself.

The subject of these talks was identity assurance or "IdA", as the Cabinet Office call it.

HMRC want to make all their services available on-line and preferably only on-line, said Joan Wood, Director, Online Service & Digital Development at HMRC. DWP want to make the Universal Credit system on-line only, said Steve Dover, DWP Corporate Director Universal Credit Business and IT Solutions.

But how can HMRC and DWP achieve that if they don't know who they're dealing with at the other end of the line? Where does the IdA come from? The same question could be asked of midata. And the same answer could be given – what IdA needs is for everyone in the UK to have a "Personal Data Inventory" (the BIS name for it) or "Personal Data Store" (everyone else's name for it).

Putting all public services on-line is the old Tony Blair/Cabinet Office/Gus O'Donnell/Ian Watmore Transformational Government/joined-up government plan. That plan collapsed years ago, partly because it depended on ID cards and the Home Office's misbegotten ID card scheme failed.

The Cabinet Office are trying to breathe new life into Transformational Government through the G-Cloud and GDS initiatives much discussed on DMossEsq and, it seems, through midata. We may not have ID cards but the idea is that we should have PDIs/PDSs instead, please see para.2.19, p.24 of BIS's midata 2012 review and consultation:

A ‘Personal Data Inventory’ has been proposed, with the aim of giving consumers clear information about the types of data which organisations hold about them. This work is still in development by the midata programme participants, but broadly the proposal is that to gain access to their Personal Data Inventory, the customer would have to log-in to a secure website where the Personal Data Inventory would contain a simple explanation of each category of data and if, and how, the data can be accessed by the consumer. The Personal Data Inventory is likely to contain data such as address and contact details, existing tariffs/contracts, payment methods, items purchased, when, value, amount spent per year, usage data.

The midata question was posed by Rory Cellan-Jones of the BBC, "why is the government getting involved?". Professor Shadbolt couldn't answer it. Not even Norman Lamb MP can answer it. Not so far. But do we perhaps see an answer now – midata is the ID cards scheme resurrected? That might explain why BIS want to take powers to implement a scheme whose stated benefits are some of them footling and others no more than wishful thinking, neither of which provides a sound basis on which to invest public money.

Take a look at BIS's 'A midata future: 10 ways it could shape your choices', particularly at example #2, Getting a new job:

midata' could allow individuals to have access to information held about them by various organisations. When getting a new job, an individual could use verification programmes to send necessary proofs to a new employer. For example, instead of making copies and going to the post office, a new employee could get their driving licence, educational qualifications, CRB check and personal identity all by ticking a set of boxes and clicking 'send'. This would save money for employers who won't have to deal with lengthy and expensive hiring processes.

"Establishing trust in digital services" is the Cabinet Office's apt name for the problem. And midata is not the solution.

Would you trust a complete stranger (Mydex, or whoever) to store all your personal data?

And would you trust a lot of other complete strangers (BIS's currently non-existent applications developers) to process that data?

You might. If you're mad. The rest of us will "make copies and go to the post office" and any sensible employer will retain his or her "expensive hiring processes" – otherwise they won't have a clue who they've just hired.

midata, the loneliest initiative in Whitehall – 8

BIS's midata initiative raises two questions for you.

Would you trust a complete stranger to store all your personal data?

And would you trust a lot of other complete strangers

(BIS's currently non-existent applications developers)

to process that data?

You might. If you're mad.

--- o O o ---

Coverage in the media of the Department for Business Innovation and Skills's lonely midata initiative remains scant.

The BBC reported on 22 August 2012, in 'Midata project plan for compulsory customer data', that ...

Consumer Minister Norman Lamb said: "It's clear to me that giving consumers the right to access their own transaction data promises huge opportunities for both consumers themselves and UK businesses."

... without pausing to ask how it's clear to Norman Lamb when it isn't clear to anyone else.

midata, the loneliest initiative in Whitehall – 7

---

... why is the government getting involved in midata,

an initiative which can't deliver any of its stated aims

but which will expose everyone to identity theft?

It's up to the department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS)
to answer that question.

There are two more open forums left in the BIS midata consultation programme

on Tuesday 4th (10 a.m. to 12 p.m.) and Thursday 6th (11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.)
September 2012.

Just email midata@bis.gsi.gov.uk to attend
1 Victoria Street London SW1H 0ET

Let's get an answer

---

On 3 November 2011, when the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) issued their midata press release, the BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones interviewed Professor Nigel Shadbolt.

Professor Shadbolt is an expert in artificial intelligence. He and his colleague at the University of Southampton, Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, are co-directors of the Open Data Institute (ODI) ...

... established by the UK Government to innovate, exploit and research Open Data opportunities ... The new Institute is one of a number of measures that the Government announced ... as part of a larger initiative to boost UK economic growth.

Professor Shadbolt is also chair of the midata programme, related to the ODI, but different.

Mr Cellan-Jones has been around the block a few times and he cut straight to the chase:

Two questions spring to mind - what's the catch for consumers and why is the government getting involved?

He poses that question to Professor Shadbolt at 2'15" in the televised BBC interview and the answer given, with his midata hat on, is that the government wants to encourage the development of an environment in which data is shared.

But the private sector already releases transaction data back to consumers. It doesn't obviously need any more encouragement or legislation.

Entrepreneurs can already develop applications which process that data if they want to. At the start, midata was supposed to be a voluntary scheme. Now BIS have gone beyond trying to "encourage the development of an environment in which data is shared" and moved on to legislation. Why? There's no reason to believe that BIS can create a market in personal data transactions after legislation is introduced any more than they have done in the 400 years of their existence so far.

BIS give no reason to believe that this legislation would expand the economy.

They initially offered consumers control over their personal transaction data, in addition to access to it, but that was a false prospectus and BIS have now had to renege on that offer. Consumers will have no more control over their data after BIS have taken their midata order-making powers than before.

And the benefits of a midata future pictured by BIS seem peculiarly footling. Example #1 of the future offered by midata concerns, of all things, warranties. midata could provide us with a "contracts and warranties dashboard".

For goodness sake, we can already monitor the warranties we have bought with our washing machines if we want to. Do we really need legislation to make that easier? If we don't monitor these warranties now, why would we monitor them any more after BIS have involved themselves?

midata really is lonely. It has no economic argument to support it. It is unaccompanied by any cogent benefits to consumers or the economy. Private sector suppliers and their customers/clients have got on perfectly well without midata for the past 5,000 years. Government ministers can't explain why they are wedded to midata and neither can their officials.

BIS aren't stupid. They know just as well as the rest of us that they haven't answered Mr Cellan-Jones's question, why the government is getting involved. It can't just be to help us monitor our warranties.

We're none the wiser. All we know is that BIS are sufficiently motivated to enact legislation to make midata a reality while being completely incapable of saying why. What really impels BIS in this case?

When, as here, there is a gap between what the government is doing and what it says the temptation is to fill it with all sorts of conspiracy theories.

Let's give ourselves a limit of 13 paragraphs to see what kind of a conspiracy theory we can cook up.

Faced with making a decision, we all have problems. We're no good at getting utilitarian choices right. So says Norman Lamb, minister responsible for midata, in his Foreword to the midata 2012 review and consultation (p.8):

Technology has allowed businesses to understand their customers’ needs and buying patterns to an unprecedented degree. At the moment consumers are at a disadvantage because the vast majority of them do not have the ability to use that same data to help their own decisions. The midata programme aims to redress this imbalance.

If midata ever comes to pass, everyone will have a Personal Data Inventory (PDI) which includes all our transaction data, please see the consultation document, para.2.19, p.24:

A ‘Personal Data Inventory’ has been proposed, with the aim of giving consumers clear information about the types of data which organisations hold about them. This work is still in development by the midata programme participants, but broadly the proposal is that to gain access to their Personal Data Inventory, the customer would have to log-in to a secure website where the Personal Data Inventory would contain a simple explanation of each category of data and if, and how, the data can be accessed by the consumer. The Personal Data Inventory is likely to contain data such as address and contact details, existing tariffs/contracts, payment methods, items purchased, when, value, amount spent per year, usage data.

And thanks to BIS we will have the benefit of a thriving applications industry which processes the data in the PDI to make the right decisions for us.

All that's needed, it seems, is the data. And a wise application. That's all that's missing when we currently try to choose. Only supply the data, and a computer application can make the right decision. Notice what happens here. The pathetically irrational human being in between is cancelled out of the equation.

This imaginary world in which electronic Mary Poppinses run our lives for us is coherent with the picture BIS provide of a midata future in which, for example, an application decides whether we should go out one evening or not, please see A midata future: 10 ways it could shape your choices, example #10, Going out:

So where your favourite restaurant has deals or offers, you could be alerted in advance to take advantage and make a booking. Combined with other services, the programme could also indicate where you could save money or improve your health by eating elsewhere, drinking less or going out less.

Has BIS been infiltrated by mad scientists who believe in the perfectability of human beings by computer? If so, which mad scientists?

You may suspect Professor Shadbolt in the library, with his eerie and recondite expertise in artificial intelligence. Perhaps he is the manipulative genius plotting to bring about a worldwide nightmare utilitarian tyranny?

There is no evidence of that. If anything, Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, is more likely to be the guilty party. Here he is, being quoted by the Guardian in their Battle for the Internet debate:

... individual users were not yet being allowed to exploit all the information relating to them to make their lives easier. Armed with the information that social networks and other web giants hold about us, he said, computers will be able to "help me run my life, to guess what I need next, to guess what I should read in the morning, because it will know not only what's happening out there but also what I've read already, and also what my mood is, and who I'm meeting later on".

A mooncalf may believe that twaddle but, unless they've gone completely mad, BIS won't.

Conspiracy theory over, obviously we can forget the mad scientists and the subjugation of the human race worldwide. But we have come up with something. The PDI. BIS seem to recommend that we should all have a PDI, stored somewhere on the web – in the cloud – and containing all our transaction data. And they seem to recommend that third party computer applications should be given access to that data to help us to make the best decisions for ourselves.

This is strange coming from the UK government, or any other reputable body.

Identity theft is a major problem on the web. CIFAS, the Home Office, Financial Fraud Action UK, the UK Cards Association, Equifax, Experian, the Royal Mail, Callcredit, HM Revenue & Customs, DVLA, the Identity & Passport Service, the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the Metropolitan Police, the City of London Police, the Scotish Business Crime Centre, the Financial Services Authority, the British Bankers' Association, BSIA and NFA have all come together to form IdentityTheft.org.uk to make people more aware of the problems of identity theft and to help them to avoid it.

And yet here's BIS suggesting that we should collect our transaction data together in one place, store it with one set of complete strangers in a PDI somewhere on the web and then let another set of complete strangers access it – exactly the opposite of what IdentityTheft.org.uk recommend.

Once again, with feeling, and Rory Cellan-Jones, why is the government getting involved in midata, an initiative which can't deliver any of its stated aims but which will expose everyone to identity theft?

It's up to BIS to answer that question. There are two more open forums left in their midata consultation, on 4 and 6 September 2012. Just email midata@bis.gsi.gov.uk to attend. Let's get an answer at last to Mr Cellan-Jones's question.