Data Sharing Review

[Ian Batten]

On 17 Jul 08, at 1415, Michael Simpson wrote:

> Are you of the opinion that no control on the data is better than  
> some?

In general, yes.  In specific cases, of course, a weak padlock is  
better than no padlock.  But if the system is unprotected, people will  
exercise proper care over what information they store in it.  If the  
system has a level of protection that the general public is unable to  
assess, there will be a tendency to store information whose value is  
inappropriate to the level of protection.

Weak encryption encourages people to transmit data which they would  
not send en clair, but they have no means to know the scale of the  
risk they are taking.

ian