The big news today, indeed almost the only news worth talking about, is the way our Lords and Masters have shown themselves to be incompetent at keeping data safe. This is why, of course, we are all urged to load up every detail of our lives into the Government IT systems via the NHS Spine and the ID cards systems. So that they can, umm, keep them safe for us.
The basic outline of what happened .
Of course, the Minister insisted that the ID card system would be more secure . Her technical qualifications for this statement are:
Ms Kennedy's qualifications for making her statement include "residential child care officer at Liverpool City Council (LCC) (1979-1983) and care assistant at LCC Social Services (1983-88). Other past roles include Branch Secretary (1983-88) and Area Organiser (1988-92) of the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE)
Fraser at The Spectator does some reporting .
The Times wonders whether ID cards are now a good idea (not that they ever were)?
The difference between this happening in Government and the private sector .
How about the conspiracy rather than the cock up theory ? It will cause a rise in identity crimes, meaning that cracking down by ID cards is even more necessary...
It was all known about a week ago : so they waited a week so that accounts could be drained perhaps?
Well, quite :
As this sorry saga proves, relying on the government to safeguard our personal data is like asking Fred West to babysit.
The NHS Spine also carries a great deal of data about us .
But don't worry! If GPs lose their laptops they'll be fined £5,000!
Even if this hadn't happened we would still oppose ID cards on moral grounds .
Why was this information even in a format that could be downloaded ?
We look forward to Polly's Friday column to tell us how this is all a good thing !
No2ID is on the case, of course .
Don't forget, they also lost the information on 15,000 Standard Life customers as well !
This morning's newspapers will have made fine reading for Chancellor and Prime Minister no doubt .
A technical review of what went wrong and what should be checked .
The Home Office's own advice on protecting your personal data (amazingly, leaving it all in the hands of junior civil servants isn't mentioned).
This is where the information has really gone of course .
Expect to see letters like this very soon .
Oh, and the man who resigned over this? You do know he's on full salary until his pension kicks in, do you ?
And finally , the whole thing reduced Tim Worstall, sometimes of this parish, to helpless giggles. If we all start to think they're laughable buffoons, might they go away?
