THE UK Government has refused to reveal which companies are encouraging them to sell Britons’ data to Silicon Valley despite transparency fears.
Ministers have insisted that the country must open up the data archive, one of the world’s most valuable data hoards, in order to improve public services. The NHS’s records trove alone is reportedly estimated to be worth £10 billion per annum.
In Labour’s industrial strategy published in June, it was revealed that tech firms had urged the Government to “take action to overcome barriers to data access and data sharing”.
However, the Sunday National can reveal that the consultation responses which informed this strategy remain tightly under wraps almost a year after the exercise finished – sparking questions over which companies have argued for which policies.
It is understood the Government is refusing to name respondents or publish their responses in full to maintain confidentiality. A summary of responses will be published in the coming months.
Labour’s embrace of Big Tech has sounded alarms from civil liberties campaigners, especially on the issue of digital identity cards.
Scottish Greens MSP Patrick Harvie (above) told the Sunday National: “Of course there is value in the data held by Government, but it’s vital to keep hold of the principle that it’s the public’s data. It should only ever be used in the public interest, not handed over to tech giants or used to benefit them.
“If the Government is acting on a consultation that they haven’t even published yet, then it should raise red flags, especially considering how much power this industry already has over people’s lives.
“The last thing the UK Government should be doing is copying Donald Trump’s homework by handing over our data, and the economic power it contains, to tech billionaires. It is time for the Government to be transparent, to respect citizens’ privacy, and to ensure that our data is only ever used for the public benefit.”
In a chapter entitled “capitalising on the value of data”, the UK Government outlined steps it will take to make Britain a “global leader in data-driven innovation and content creation”.
Among them are promises to make more public data available to private companies and to “simplify” this process.
There is also a pledge to create a new National Data Library, at the cost of £100 million.
The revelation comes just weeks after tech titans were treated to a lavish feast at Windsor Castle to mark Donald Trump’s second state visit to the UK.
Among those invited were the heads of artificial intelligence companies, which rely on accessing massive stores of data to train their applications.
Spotted at the white tie event were tech moguls such as Sam Altman, whose OpenAI owns ChatGPT, and Jensen Huang, who runs Nvidia, one of the key players in the recent AI boom. Its super-powerful electronic circuits are highly prized by AI companies.
Demis Hassabis, the founder and CEO of Google DeepMind, was also present, as was Stephen Schwartzman, the head of Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative investment company. Blackstone has found itself at the centre of a number of controversies, including settling for $19.6 million after giving American immigration enforcement officials access to guest lists of a hotel chain it owns without a warrant.
The state’s connection with big tech has come under increased scrutiny since Labour came to power, with the Tony Blair Institute’s deep links with AI firm Oracle, run by Larry Ellison, coming under the microscope in a recent deep dive by the New Statesman.
Ellison’s charitable foundation has donated at least £257 million to the Tony Blair Institute since 2021, the magazine reported.
Oracle already works with branches of the British state including the Department for Work and Pensions, HMRC and the NHS, and Tony Blair Institute staff members have been brought into government while still on the think tank’s payroll, according to the New Statesman.
The Tony Blair Institute has continued its founder’s campaign to impose ID cards in Britain and the UK Government announced last month that a digital scheme would be introduced.
It was initially billed as part of efforts to crack down on illegal migration, however ministers have indicated its purpose may be expanded in the future, with Darren Jones, the Prime Minister’s chief secretary, saying that it would become “the bedrock of the modern state”.
Elsewhere, the Ministry of Defence announced in September that it was partnering with Peter Thiel’s Palantir to help develop the use of AI in the armed forces.
A UK Government spokesperson said: “We take transparency seriously and intend to introduce laws to simplify how the public sector makes data available – allowing businesses to innovate while protecting personal data.
“We are grateful to those who responded to our consultation ahead of the launch of the Industrial Strategy to drive growth across the UK through our plan for change, and will publish a full summary in the coming months.”
