Calls grow for inquiry into UK data watchdog after MoD leak

Civil society groups are urging MPs to launch a parliamentary inquiry into the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), accusing the UK data watchdog of abandoning its enforcement duties after it declined to investigate a Ministry of Defence data leak linked to dozens of deaths.

In a letter [PDF] sent this week to the chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, organizations including the Open Rights Group and European Digital Rights, along with academics and data protection experts, argue that the ICO's enforcement activity has "collapsed," leaving the country without an effective watchdog at a time of escalating government and public sector failures.

Their demand lands amid fierce criticism of the regulator's decision not to formally investigate the Ministry of Defence over what has been described as the most serious data breach in British history: the leaking of a spreadsheet revealing the identities and locations of more than ...