Privacy and civil liberties NGO Big Brother Watch has spearheaded a joint letter to Liz Kendall, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to scrap plans to spy on all of our bank accounts on the premise of detecting welfare fraud and error.
Joined by over a dozen NGOs, including Privacy International, Age UK, and Disability Rights UK, Big Brother Watch’s letter warns that these plans are eerily similar to Conservative plans for mass bank account surveillance, which were defeated only three months ago. They wrote:
“Imposing suspicionless algorithmic surveillance on the entire public has the makings of a Horizon-style scandal – with vulnerable people most likely to bear the brunt when these systems go wrong.”
“Pensioners, disabled people, and carers shouldn’t have to live in fear of the government prying into their finances.”
The Guardian – Monitoring UK bank accounts for benefits fraud would be ‘huge blow to privacy’
Reclaim the Net – Banking on Betrayal: UK Government’s New Plan for Mass Bank Spying