Gov't to protect against data scraping following MPs expenses issues?

2009-07-01

As the UK government introduces the new Cyber Security Strategy it may want to protect against those looking to use data scraping, a method one person used when attempting to look further into MPs expenses, it has been reported. According to John Naughton, in an article for the Observer, parliament published the overall figures for MPs' claims as a PDF document back in March. While it let people look over certain statistics, such as the fact that Margaret Beckett made the largest claim of £107,458 for office expenses, Mr Naughton noted that more in-depth mathematical analysis would only be possible if people transferred the numbers by hand from the PDF and on to a spreadsheet.

However, an unnamed technology expert managed to scrape the data from the PDF, which the Guardian then made available in spreadsheet form for evaluation, the writer revealed. He questioned why people should have to use such technical skills to access public data, asking why numerical data cannot simply be published in internet-friendly forms. "Now all we need is the raw data. Let's have it," he concluded.

The government may now be looking to protect itself from data scraping with the Cyber Security Strategy, introduced earlier this month. According to the Cabinet Office, one of its key priorities for the initiative is to make critical systems in the public and private sectors more resilient. It will also seek to step up its emergency exercise planning for attacks and analysis of cyber related threats in the Cyber Security Operations Centre, based in Cheltenham.

It seems politicians are still paying for their expenses claims since information made its way into the public domain. According to recent reports, Conservative MPs will pay back a further £125,000 in claims after the party looked into the scandal. Tory leader David Cameron has said that the party will introduce a "right to data" if it is voted into power, meaning the public will be able to request information in further areas.