Whitehall's strange attitude to the confidentiality of our personal data is revealed not only by its recent attempt to resurrect the snoopers' web-surveillance charter (Report, 3 April), but also by two other initiatives, IdA and G-Cloud.
IdA, Whitehall's identity assurance initiative, is part of its plan to make all public services accessible only over the web. When you submit your tax return, for example, you will require an electronic ID managed by the likes of Google and Facebook. G-Cloud is Whitehall's plan to put all government data on the web, where it will be stored on computers operated by Google and other cloud-computing service providers like Amazon.
These initiatives are being promoted in the name of efficiency and reform, and are the responsibility of Francis Maude. Whitehall's idea of efficiency and reform seems to be to hand over our personal data to third parties in overseas jurisdictions where it will be impossible for Whitehall to keep control of it.
David Moss
London
• The government must not be allowed to destroy the rule of law (No 10 remains defiant over new security legislation, 5 April). If our government's role is to protect its people and prosecute wrongdoers then no one, not even the security services, can be above the law. Evidence of criminal acts must be examined in public. Secret courts would erode all confidence in our legal system.
The Gibson torture inquiry was supposed to examine the many allegations of UK complicity in torture abroad. Its remit was flawed by the inquiry's refusal to consider public scrutiny of the facts. The green paper goes one step further. It proposes legislation that will protect war criminals under the guise of national security. Torturers and those who witness torture will walk free. Human rights abuses will be repeated without any accountability. Our government will be in breach of international law which states that complicity in torture is a crime against humanity.
Joy Hurcombe
Worthing, West Sussex