So, we wake up today to the news that our favorite government agency – Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been responsible for the loss of personal data for 25 million people. The data included names, addresses, bank details, national insurance numbers etc., so possibly of mild interest to the criminal fraternity out there. What I can’t get my head around is why the Government spends so much time, effort and money on developing standards such as e-GIF, which are meant to enable secure and accurate electronic data transfer between government departments, but relies instead on burning sensitive data to two CD-ROMs and then putting these in the post to the receiving department. If this doesn’t already sound like one of those Brian Rix farces, consider also the fact that (a) the data on the CD-ROMs was not encrypted and (b) they were sent by ordinary mail, not registered mail, recorded delivery or courier.
Would you trust this government to run a national ID system? Answers on a postcard please to: Gordon Brown, 10 Downing St. London!
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