London: Criminal proceedings should be brought in the case of reckless or repeated loss of personal data, a group of MPs suggested on Thursday.
The Justice Select Committee called for a package of new laws and stricter penalties to be imposed on bodies following a spate of recent breaches in personal data security.
"The scale of the data loss by government bodies and contractors is truly shocking but the evidence we have had points to further hidden problems," said Alan Beith, chairman of the committee.
"It is frankly incredible, for example, that the measures HM Revenue and Customs has put in place were not already standard procedure," the panel said, proposing measures like giving the Information Commissioner powers to carry out unannounced spot checks on government data systems, strengthening the commissioner's resources and firms being required to report losses of data.
"There is evidence of a widespread problem within government relating to establishing systems for data protection and operating them adequately."
