Years ago The GOS worked in Music Education and, like hundreds of thousands of other teachers, youth workers and volunteers, had to be periodically vetted to see if he was fit to work with children. He was also required to know and abide by the regulations laid down by the government about Data Protection, to maintain the privacy of the young people he worked with and their parents, and to ensure that their personal details were stored and used securely.
This makes it all the worse when we discover that the government itself is not to be trusted …
Two computer discs holding the personal details of all families in the UK with a child under 16 have gone missing. The Child Benefit data on them includes name, address, date of birth, National Insurance number and, where relevant, bank details of 25m people.
In an emergency statement to MPs, Chancellor Alastair Darling apologised for what he described as an "extremely serious failure on the part of HMRC to protect sensitive personal data entrusted to it in breach of its own guidelines". MPs gasped as Mr.Darling told them "The missing information contains details of all Child Benefit recipients: records for 25 million individuals and 7.25 million families."
The chancellor blamed mistakes by junior officials at HMRC, who he said had ignored security procedures when they sent information to the National Audit Office (NAO) for auditing. He said "Two password protected discs containing a full copy of HMRC's entire data in relation to the payment of child benefit was sent to the NAO, by HMRC's internal post system operated by the courier TNT. The package was not recorded or registered. It appears the data has failed to reach the addressee in the NAO."
He added "The police tell me that they have no reason to believe that this data has found its way into the wrong hands," and went on to say "If someone is the innocent victim of fraud as a result of this incident, people can be assured they have protection under the Banking Code so they will not suffer any financial loss as a result," which was nice of him: it'll be the banks that pick up the pieces, then, not him.
HMRC chairman Paul Gray has resigned, and there are calls for Alastair Darling to follow him.
Move over, darling
There are two things to say about this débacle. Firstly, the entirely predictable furore in parliament and in the press is largely unnecessary. As we said way back in February 2005, "I have a passport. I have a birth certificate. I have a marriage certificate. I have a medical card with my social security number on it. I have a driving licence, an MOT certificate and a Certificate of Insurance. I have a television licence. I have several credit cards. I own a house and the local authority knows where I live because they keep telling me to cut my hedge (actually, they keep telling me to cut next door's hedge, but that's another story). I have a library card. I get regular utilities bills. I have an email address. When my picture is taken by one of these cute yellow cameras at the side of the road, the DVLA in Swansea knows exactly who I am and can have Mr.Plod waiting on my front door mat before I get home. I'm on the electoral roll, and actually have a vote for all the good it's ever done. I pay my taxes, and have had a job for most of my life so have also been paying my National Insurance contributions. I've been checked by the Criminal Records Bureau so I can work with children.
I went into a shop recently to buy a new computer. The young assistant asked my name, typed it into his computer and then told me where I live and what my telephone number is. He then spent the rest of the interview calling me by my Christian name, though I didn't know him from Adam. I had a telephone call the other day from a man in India who even knew my date of birth.
I am so deeply woven into the fabric of our society that I couldn't hide if I wanted to.
Yet now the government want me to have an Identity Card. Why? They already know who I am, where I live, when I was born, who I'm married to, who my children are, what my qualifications and employment history are, whether I have any convictions for speeding (I have) or for offences against children (I haven't), and probably the name of my cat and whether I pick my nose with the right forefinger or the left. So why do they need to issue me with an Identity Card?"
They don't, of course. But it is a fact that we already live in a world where none of us have any secrets any more. We live in a world where the DVLA openly sells our information to commercial companies. We live in a world where sophisticated internet search will take one to websites where thousands of sets of personal details are on sale. We live in a world where it was a piece of cake for an animal rights activist to get a job at the DVLA so he could steal the personal details of scientists who work at animal research labs, so he could go and attack them and their families. We therefore live in a world where terrorists and identity-fraud criminals can easily do the same, and probably have already.
So why are we so alarmed at this latest news? Let's be honest - this is normal!
The second thing is obvious and has already been said by a number of people, but there's no harm in reiterating: the government want to enter all our personal details compulsorily onto a national database, onto the NHS patient database, and onto our passports and the iniquitous ID cards. Yet they can't look after the information they've already got.
Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable said "After this disaster how can the public possibly have confidence in the vast centralised databases needed for the compulsory ID card scheme?" - a view shared by hundreds of ordinary people who have posted their comments on various news websites, like Anthony H. of London who said "What a complete shambles ... and I fear things will only get worse once the loathsome ID cards are introduced".
It's hard to resist the temptation to fling around phrases like "thoughtless, dishonest, incompetent w*nkers who couldn't organise a p*ss-up in a brewery, leave alone run the country", but … oh, what the hell? They're a bunch of thoughtless, dishonest, incompetent w*nkers who couldn't organise a p*ss-up in a brewery, leave alone run the country.
There.
Trouble is, knowing you're deep in the sh*t, and admitting that you're deep in the sh*t, and knowing who to blame for getting you deep in the sh*t, doesn't actually help get you out of the sh*t.
either on this site or on the World Wide Web.
Copyright © 2007 The GOS
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