That title, eh? Makes it look like
retirement (or economic inactivity) has turned me into a conspiracy theorist
convinced that I am being manipulated by dark forces to their bidding.
What was it Kurt Cobain said? Something
like “Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.”
I know, all this talk of grand conspiracy
theories to grab power and hold the populace is all total twaddle and comes
from the paranoia of the ignorant. Then I watched Channel4 News. Of all of the
UK news outlets, Channel4 News has become the one I believe is the most
fearless, although a touch left of centre on social issues. Well last night,
they ran a story about how data gathered through social media had been
I suppose it is my progressive, liberal
upbringing, but I was shocked. My first reaction was denial, it could never
happen here in the UK. Then synaptic tangents started to kick in.
Those strange seemingly random posts that
crossed my timeline on Facebook in the run up to the Brexit referendum; the
rather outrageous claims from apparent strangers on Twitter; emails
highlighting political issues or politicians. They could all just be coincidence
of course.
When you start joining imaginary dots to
some of the news stories you see, you do start to wonder. Is Dominic
Cummings employing black magic data mining techniques to subvert democracy?
Are the Russians targeting
our elections? Just what was the result of the meddling highlighted in the Russia
Report?
I could be slowly turning into a keyboard
warrior driven by paranoia over conspiracy theories. There again, maybe the
political parties and pressure groups may know more about me than I give them
credit.
There is only one thing to do and that is
find out. One of the better regulations to come out of the EU is the data
privacy laws. The link, if you followed it, takes you to the ICO who are
charged with ensuring compliance in the UK. The law also gives you certain rights as to how organisations
use your data and allows you to get a record of what data they store.
I came up with a cunning plan to find out
what the political parties store about me and what they think they know.
So, I am going to write to the various
political parties and organisations and ask them:
What data do you hold on me?
How do you use the data you hold on me?
Who do you share my data with?
To be honest, I don’t hold out a lot of
hope on that last point, but if I do find out, I shall be writing to those
third parties as well.
Grab your tinfoil hat, up the dosage on
those dried frog pills and watch this space. Let’s see what happens!
UPDATE 12:15 29/09/2020
An automated response was received from the Labour Party telling me that in order to process my request, I had to provide photo ID. I guess this kind of adds a layer of security to the process. Anyway, this has been supplied and I await developments.
UPDATE 11:30 02/10/2020
LeaveEU has responded asking me to fill in a form and send it back to them snail mail. I might also send it back email, just to free my inner rebel. Nothing yet from the Conservatives or LibDems.
UPDATE 14:00 05/10/2020
The Conservatives have requested proof of ID before they will process my request. This has been provided.
UPDATE 11:00 06/10/2020
The LibDems have now responded. They too want proof of ID which has been provided.
UPDATE 09:30 19/10/2020
LeaveEU have emailed me a reminder to send in the information they need to process my request. This has already been done, but I sent the info again via email.
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