UK Government Loses Personal Info on 25m People

[alohamonkey]

Doesn't this quote pretty much sum up every politician/individual in power? 
"He is a prime minister who tries to control everything but can't run anything"


PM apologises for UK's privacy breach
By George Parker
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a98e9a48-9832-11dc-8ca7-0000779fd2ac.html

Published: November 21 2007 13:27 | Last updated: November 21 2007 13:27

Gordon Brown said on Tuesday he "profoundly regrets" the loss of two government computer discs containing personal data on 25m people, raising fears of possible massive and systemic fraud in the banking system.

The prime minister apologised to a rowdy House of Commons for the blunder at HM Revenue and Customs, but denied suggestions that the merger of two departments which he oversaw as chancellor was to blame for Europe's biggest ever loss of confidential personal information.

David Cameron, Conservative leader, claimed HMRC was the subject of "systemic" errors going back many years, in an attempt to implicate the prime minister in Britain's biggest security breach involving personal data. "He is a prime minister who tries to control everything but can't run anything," he said.

The affair has delivered another blow to Mr Brown's claim to run a competent government with a strong economic track record, and has severely weakened the position of Alistair Darling, chancellor. Mr Darling sat alongside the prime minister at question time.

Mr Brown defended his beleagued chancellor, saying he was doing an "excellent job, and added that no member of his Cabinet had offered to resign in recent weeks "and nor should they".

Details of the the breach led to the resignation on Monday of Paul Gray, chairman of the HM Revenue and Customs, and could also create fresh problems for the government's plans for a national identity card, supported by a database. George Osborne, the shadow chancellor said, the incident would be the "final blow" in destroying the government's plans to set up a national identity card scheme, since nobody would trust the government to store sensitive personal data any more.

As banks were placed on alert for widespread fraud, Mr Darling promised them that the government would refund any losses, potentially exposing the taxpayer to fresh liabilities for months or even years.

Mr Brown also said his govenment would do, "everything in our power" to ensure that the data was safe. He said he had set up a review under the chairman of PriceWaterhouse to "look at the security of personal data in both private and public sector and it will look at the work of Government agencies and departments."

The missing information is contained on two computer discs, which Mr Darling said were sent out by a junior HMRC official – in breach of all security guidelines – by unregistered post, via its internal courier, the Dutch firm TNT. The discs were intended for the National Audit Office, the independent spending watchdog, but failed to arrive.

"We do not even know for sure if the item entered our system," a TNT spokesman said. "We are all working on that theory, but it cannot be proved one way or the other."

The discs contained detailed records of 25m individuals and 7.25m families. The information included names, addresses, dates of birth, bank account and national insurance numbers. Security experts say it would prove a goldmine if it fell into the hands of criminals or identity fraudsters.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007

[David]

Quote<and could also create fresh problems for the government's plans for a national identity card, supported by a database. George Osborne, the shadow chancellor said, the incident would be the "final blow" in destroying the government's plans to set up a national identity card scheme, since nobody would trust the government to store sensitive personal data any more.>
They act like that is a bad thing.   

[Lasse]

I wonder who George Osborne thinks he is kidding. This will be forgotten in one week, tops, and everything will be back to 'normal' (i.e. regular insanity). The UK is an example of a fascist country in which the political consensus has simply reached totalitarianism, there is no discernable difference between the parties, and noone seems to care. Everyone knows what's going on, but everyone thinks it is somehow 'necessary'. The brains of the people have been completely mellowed to the point where they will accept ANYTHING. Remember, this is the country where school kids are fingerprinted, where you need a license to buy a toy gun (and all real guns are banned), the Western country with most CCTV cameras per capita - the UK has consistently ranked at the bottom pit in the Privacy International rankings, sitting comfortably with their chums Russia and the PRC.