Adam Smith Institute

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A very short memory

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a-very-short-memory

Another week, and another scandal hits the government. I am almost beginning to feel sorry for them... Almost, but not quite!

The latest trouble comes in the form of the lost details of three million learner drivers by a DVLA sub-contractor in Iowa, USA. The details include names, addresses and phone numbers and the US police say the missing hard drive is unlikely to be recovered.

It just serves to underline why we really shouldn't let the government centralize all of our personal data on one big national ID-card database. How long before a disk or hard drive goes missing, or the system gets hacked? How much proof do we need that the government cannot be trusted?

Of course, it hasn't taken the unions long to seize on the fact that it is a private company that has lost the data this time. Apparently such a dreadful lapse would never happen if the public sector was allowed to do the job.

But hang on, who was it that lost the bank details of 25 million people last month? Oh yes, HM Revenue & Customs.

Funny how short the left's memory is...