Roll over Darling!

If ever an example was needed as to the dangers of handling data records was needed Alistair Darling has just obliged with the most almighty cock-up!

For many years the argument, discussion (call it what you will) has raged about should government departments share data about us, purportedly under the guise of the “greater good!”. I have argued long and hard with many parliamentarians about the dangers of such an approach. The problem is fundamentally that data only needs to get into the wrong hands ONCE and a disaster will likely ensue.

It does seem unbelievable that in this day of encryption and high security that HMRC saw fit to simply burn a CD with this information and stick in the post! Yet this is exactly the point. Even knowing that burning CD’s was a no-no (it is banned by HMRC rules) HMRC broke the rules and lost this data. Whilst all concerned have put up their hands and admitted the howler, it is left to consumers to sleep less well in their beds at night as it is their identities that are likely to be reinvented by those intent on theft and deception.

Once and for all let’s have an end to discussion surrounding sharing data, the release of registers and so forth. The potential costs far outweigh any relatively minor benefits.