Ministers hope to introduce a law to allow them to set up a nationalchild index this autumn.
But a Department for Education and Skills spokesman told Children Nowthis week that the police will be able to decree that certain addressesshould be omitted; for example when there is a violent custodybattle.
Children of the rich and famous may also have their addresses blankedout. "It will be an added fail-safe," said the spokesman.
Later this month the Information Commissioner's Office will publish anindependent report on the proposed database. A spokeswoman said: "Theremay be limited circumstances where a child's details are not includedbased on actual risk of harm."
Ross Anderson, a computer security expert at Cambridge University andone of the report's author's, told Channel 4 last week: "In any systemthere will always be failures. Paedophiles could use the database tofind out which children in their neighbourhood are vulnerable."
Terri Dowty, director of Action on Rights for Children, said: "In thewrong hands, the kind of powers the Government is giving to itself are avery dangerous weapon."
