It surely should come as some relief . . .
@ 21/11/07 - 10:39:30. . . to all you Facebook users out there, who are heartily sick of the technophobic press constantly trying to get another furlong out of the dead horse that is "Facebook will steal your identity", to know that Her Majesty's Government will do a far better job of it.
25 million records lost, and this is the fourth breach by the same department. The same crowd who brought in that wonderful "tax credit" system - remember that? Where they overpaid millions, and ended up having to run adverts asking people to check their sums and return any money they shouldn't have got.
I'll bet that hotline phone was ringing off the wall.
Now, not content with having lost 15 million records on CD plus numerous laptops, HMRC have lost 25 milion records burned - contrary to their own regulations - onto CD, and sent by unregistered post.
(And TNT?!? Oh, please. One attempted delivery of some computer components and nearly a week of hassle with this bunch of pricks told me they couldn't be trusted with a postcard, let alone anything of value).
In parliament yesterday, Alastair Darling told everyone that he didn't think the records were in the hands of any criminals and that the CDs were passworded, and didn't contain vital information. Wags at The Register were quick to point out that Mr Darling wasn't so quick to publish his NI number and bank account details if he was so sure of their safety . . . and that the security on the CDs was probably something like "pa55w0rd"
True or not, despite Darling's desperate attempts to salvage his job, they simply don't know where these records are. Saying criminals haven't got them is, at this point, wishful thinking.
What utter hypocrisy from a government that is constantly bleating on about terror, paranoia and identity theft. I personally think there are many good reasons not to have a National Identity database, but if you need a clear one, here it is: the last place your personal details will be safe and secure is a database handled by imbecilic clowns in government.
Run a national database? They couldn't run a bath.
Comments: Hide subcomments
I'm so glad Gordon Brown has nothing better to do today than nag Tecos about selling cheap booze.
 | KarenF [Member] http://www.lordbothwell.co.uk 2007-11-21 @ 12:58 |
Or even Tesco
 | Vort1gern [Member] 2007-11-23 @ 23:38 |
What really got me spitting fur was him laughing and smirking at Quetion Time in Parliament.
It's like he's convinced it will just blow over in a week, provided there's enough spin doctoring thrown at the public.
Grrrrr.
 | rithompson [Member] http://random-veryrandom.blog.co.uk 2007-11-21 @ 15:40 |
The police have been secretly searching for three weeks, which suggests that the discs are not floating around a TNT depot. Meaning that the government are either very naive, or are hiding another bombshell. I have a funny feeling it's the latter!
| Vort1gern [Member] 2007-11-23 @ 23:39 |
I'm positive they're on "bad news management" mode and trying to choke the rate at which the staggering ineptitude is going to surface.
 | loiswakeman [Member] http://lois.co.uk 2007-11-21 @ 16:59 |
Yes - what price the security of a national ID card database now? But I can't help feeling that the people who were "shocked" by this revelation according to the lunchtime news are naive, to say the least. Pissed off I could understand - but not shocked. Government and IT are a bad combination on past records.
On the subject of Facebook, business link tells me that
A recent Trade Union Congress briefing entitled ‘Facing up to Facebook’ looks beyond the hype surrounding online social networking and makes one simple conclusion: “Handled properly, personal access to the internet during breaks could be a valued benefit for staff”.
Not in my company they don't! Oh, hang on, there's only me and I disdain Facebook and all its lookalikes anyway...
| Vort1gern [Member] 2007-11-23 @ 23:44 |
Yes, I've said the best solution to a national IT project is to keep Ministers as far from it as possible.
I don't mind facebook, but you really have to be a plank to post stuff on there you wouldn't like people to see.
Sadly, the internet cannot be made ID 10 T proof (techie pun). Similar could be said for Parliament . . .
 | MichaelStMark pro 2007-11-23 @ 09:52 |
You missed out the gigantic subterranean-caverned money sink hole that is the shambolic NHS IT project, V.
Cut-backs, close-downs and vital drug-denial on expense grounds, MRSA out of control, Bulls***ting consultants being shovelled pinkies by the shedload etc etc...but somehow govt. can find what's likely to end up £20 Billion for an IT project that GPs themselves have labeled farcical and unnecessary.
Whose dirty backhands are involved in this money-laundering scam I wonder.
Darling's the man who said as environment minister under Blair, when asked about installing carbon-scrubbing plants in our big power stations, " I don't think that's the way to go".
The only "way to go" for Taxmax Brown and his highway robbing cronies is to get the taxpayer to cough up for everything.
| Vort1gern [Member] 2007-11-23 @ 23:48 |
That's a whole load of other posst on the subject. At least with the HMRC thing, if this latest botch is directly attributable to the costs cut-backs, then that trail leads directly to the then Chancellor, Gordon "Smirkin'" Brown.
So many have had their palms greased by the BHS IT botch up that it's probably nigh-on impossible to single any one group out.
God, wouldn't it be great to stick the whole sodding lot in a filthy MRSA-riddled ward and leave them there.
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