Cybersecurity and Privacy in the UK: Is Data Privacy Responsible for the New UK Government? (with Video)

SC Magazine news editor Dan Raywood (who frequently mentions my posts here in his own articles for SC) has been tweeting news about the formation of the new coalition government in the UK (now confirmed as a Conservative-led, Liberal Democrat-allied coalition with Prime Minister David Cameron [Conservative] and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg [Liberal Democrat] at the helm).

With tongue only gently planted in cheek, Dan (follow him @DanRaywood on Twitter) suggested in a tweet yesterday that data privacy might have been a major driver for the failure of Labour to form a coalition government:

"Rumour that ID cards are what caused Clegg to turn back on Labour coalition.So could it be said that data privacy caused the new government?"

And, indeed, one of the first actions of the new government is reported to be the introduction of a "freedom bill" that will extend Freedom of Information laws and repeal ID cards and biometric passports. (See "Nick Clegg Confirmed as deputy prime minister" among other articles.)

When Proofpoint interviewed attendees at the recent Infosecurity Europe show, we found a great deal of confusion (maybe even a touch of American-style apathy) about which UK political party would do the most to improve cybersecurity in general. Our friends at LEWIS PR interviewed attendees on this topic and you can hear firsthand what they thought in this short video:

 

We asked 140 attendees at Infosecurity Europe "Ahead of the UK general election, which political party do you think would do the most to improve cyber security in the UK?" and found that more than half of respondents (57%) said they didn't know. The rest of the responses were as follows: 

Labour: 7%
Conservatives: 12%
Liberal Democrats: 11%
Other: 13%

It'll be interesting to follow how the UK's data privacy regulations change in the coming months since these topics are clearly on the new government's agenda!