UK database blacklist of "suspicious" store clerks includes people never charged or convicted

Bugs sez,

Several large UK retail firms are due to launch a database containing details of staff who've been accused of "stealing, forgery, fraud, damaging company property or causing a loss to their employers and suppliers."

This is intended as a closed, privately-run addition to the police background checks already offered by the state-run Criminal Records Bearau.

Crucially, the new database will include details of people who, due to lack of evidence, have never been formally charged. So if someone is fired due to a grudge with their boss or wrongly suspected of an offence, they could end up blacklisted for life with no way to find this out or, if they do find out, no way to appeal.

Link (Thanks, Bugs!)

• [Itsumishi]

  @4. Jackasimov.

  Haha. Good one.

  ——
  What really infuriates me about England is their inability to see one simple fact about human behaivor.

  If you treat people in a certain way, they will act that way.

  Treat a man like a child he will begin to act like a child.
  Treat him like a criminal and he’ll act like one.

  I’m not saying this is true 100% of the time, but I think it’s fair to say it’s true at least 90% of the time.

  If England keeps treating it’s citizens like thugs and criminals it will only escalate the problems. That is of course until you scare them completely into submission and then you have a population looking for revolution.

• [spazzm]

  Don’t they have unions in the UK?

• [error404]

  ITSUMISHI

  It’s Britain, not England.

  SPAZZM

  yes we do have tarde unions in the UK.

  We Invented trade Unionism

  It was Thatcher and her Chicaago School moentarist bastards who broke the unions here.

  and lastly

  JACKASIMOV

  “What the hell is happening to Britain? Can the loss of American civil liberties be far behind?
  ”

  For the love of god please tell me you’re joking.

• [Antinous]

  Yes. They’re mentioned in the BBC article to which this links.

• [hassan-i-sabbah]

  Error I’m not sure but this doesn’t cover all of The UK,Scotland having Scots law which differs in many respects to English law. AIANAL and I am too knackered/lazy to find and citations/references…>yawn<

• [Charlie Stross]

  This was happening decades ago: see also.

• [Djinn PAWN]

  Rumours and innuendo, great! Now if we could get some stills from some CCTV footage we could make up a paparazzi weekly glossy of STORE CLERKS GONE WILD… whether they have or not.

  I wonder if they will ban hoodies for staff so they can get *ahem* more ‘accurate’ evidence in order to get more people on the database. ;P

• [pauldrye]

  Britain has notoriously strict libel laws. I wonder how they think they can avoid an expensive lawsuit from a savvy victim. It’s published among themselves, and in the UK the onus on them to prove that published statements are true.

• [prentiz]

  Hmm – dubious legality here. Firstly everyone has a right under the Data Protection Act to request copies of records held about them – which would encompass this, and to have inaccuracies corrected.

  Secondly, any unproven accusation of illegality would open up the potential for a defamation case – which could carry quite a significant pay out if someone lost a job as a result. The only effective defence would be for the register to be able to prove the claims it makes – not easy without a criminal conviction!

  Given that a lot of big UK firms won’t even give references anymore for fear of litigation, I can’t believe they’ll want to contribute to something like this, or that anyone would want to insure them…

• [Jackasimov]

  What the hell is happening to Britain? Can the loss of American civil liberties be far behind?

• [drawingbreath]

  It genuinely feels as if England is going down the tubes. Every day another ridiculous law is passed that infringes on the liberties that we just assume are still there.

  Sadly, the populace is happy to sleep-walk into an Orwellian reality. So long as they keep their football and reality TV, they won’t care.

  No wonder 10% (and rising) of nationals born in the UK, leave each year.

• [yer_maw]

  doubt this will happen. The data protection act is pretty robust here.

• [catbeller]

  Don’t worry. If you’ve done nothing wrong, there’s nothing to worry about. And if they make a mistake, you can find out about it and they will be quick to correct it. They’ll absolutely believe your story rather than take the word of solid businessmen. And we’re all paranoid for even caring about such things, as we’re innocent of any crimes. Trust them. Nothing could possibly go wrong, for you, if you’re rich, scion of the rich, rightly famous, or powerful – or a happy combination of the four. And you are all that matters. It’s up the individual to keep track of all that is said and logged about them. If you don’t perform regular due dilligence, then that’s your problem. Ignorance of the database is no excuse.
  Did I leave anything out?

• [nikkesen]

  Kangaroo court is one way to describe this assault on employee rights. I remember being accused of smoke at work when I never touched a cigarette in my life. What was the basis for it? The assistant manager had it in for me. She then went on to accuse someone else who hadn’t even been working that day or the day before. There is no way to prove unless caught, that the person has actually done wrong.

• [ZippySpincycle]

  Catbeller@ 12, I believe you forgot to thank the hard-working members of the law-enforcement and business communities who are doing all they can to keep us safe.

• [arkizzle]

  “Home Office figures suggest that two-thirds of those involved in anti-social behaviour – including vandalism, threatening behaviour and street drinking – abandon it after their first warning.”

  Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha Hah!

• [arkizzle]

  yes we do have tarde unions in the UK.

  too too good.

• [Antinous]

  This is the sort of thing that drives perfectly normal people to firebomb businesses. You can only push people so far before they push back. Once you’ve been branded as unemployable, when your every movement is tracked, what do you have to lose?

  Meanwhile, fascist (yes, I said it) Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has instructed the police to harass ‘young thugs’. She loves that database.

  That car of theirs: is the tax up to date? Is it insured? Let’s find out. And have they got a TV licence for that plasma screen? As the advert says, it’s all on the database.

  BBC article

• [Maurik]

  This is a copypasta from one of the comments in the BBC’s thread.

  You can ask they remove your details under the Data protection Act:
  Right to prevent processing likely to cause damage or distress (1) Subject to subsection (2), an individual is entitled at any time by notice in writing to a data controller to require the data controller at the end of such period as is reasonable in the circumstances to cease, or not to begin, processing, or processing for a specified purpose or in a specified manner, any personal data in respect of which he is the data subject, on the ground that, for specified reasons -
  (a) the processing of those data or their processing for that purpose or in that manner is causing or is likely to cause substantial damage or substantial distress to him or to another, and (b) that damage or distress is or would be unwarranted.
  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply -
  (a) in a case where any of the conditions in paragraphs 1 to 4 of Schedule 2 is met, or (b) in such other cases as may be prescribed by the Secretary of State by order.
  (3) The data controller must within twenty-one days of receiving a notice under subsection (1) (¿the data subject notice¿) give the individual who gave it a written notice – (a) stating that he has complied or intends to comply with the data subject notice, or (b) stating his reasons for regarding the data subject notice as to any extent unjustified and the extent (if any) to which he has complied or intends to comply with it.