Thursday, November 22nd 2007
United Kingdom Loses Digital Records of 25 Million Citizens
In what's very likely to be the worst technology blunder of the century, the United Kingdom appears to have misplaced the records of 25 million citizens. It all started when Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) decided to send two disks containing the birth records, bank accounts, insurance numbers, and all manner of other important personal information of 25 million citizens to the National Audit Office (NAO). The majority of the 25 million citizens whose information was on the two disks were recipients of Child Benefits. HMRC shipped the information out via post on October 8th, and on November 8th the NAO discovered that they did not have the two disks. While the British government spends their time pointing fingers at each other to properly determine who is at fault (you can read a more descriptive version of the drama via the source link), an American convict-turned-FBI Fraud Investigator is working hard on the case, and suspects foul play.
If you live in the United Kingdom and feel that you may have been affected by this fraud, the government has set up a hotline for you to call. The number is 0845 302 1444.
Source:
DailyTech
If you live in the United Kingdom and feel that you may have been affected by this fraud, the government has set up a hotline for you to call. The number is 0845 302 1444.
49 Comments on United Kingdom Loses Digital Records of 25 Million Citizens
Wow, more like "hey take these 25 million records, put them on a disk, and throw them in the ocean... we don't want to fork out a billion dollars to feed them right now, we'll wait till the records get sorted out in FIVE years."
Unbelievable. The records had to come from somewhere, it's hard to believe they deleted all the information after they put it on disk. Sounds like they are trying to take advantage of peoples ignorance of technology.
Theres absolutely NO way that there isn't any foul play, thats obvious.
Well, there should be a backup right? They didn't just LOSE it all together? The copies just got stolen?
Was it reported how these CDs were sent?
We all hate Royal Mail but this was not their fault.
The UK is screwed :roll:
They are rather ominous posters though.
However, they did send the details of 25m people out on 2 disks and don't know where they are. If they fell into the hands of identity thieves etc, it could get interesting. I just hope that the disks were encrypted etc
And I agree - giving the government too much power is stupid. If they are incompetent at looking after some records, I would dread to think how badly they will run ID cards with biometric info etc. If they bring that in, I'm leaving the country. I don't really want to be on a national database forever for no reason or tracked by an RFID chip.
now i see why people keep complaining about you trollbaiting
www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=447420&in_page_id=1770
And yes grings, I like that picture. I think it sums up everything going on in the UK in one subtle frame. Trollbaiting? I think you're just afraid of the truth.
Every time I hear about a new big-brother tactic in the UK I shake my head. It saddens me, if only because I know such measures are only years delayed here in the US.
It bites to hear about what happened to the UK citizens. What happened to the good old days when you had high ranked people carry around a handcuffed brief case with the ability to shot on site? :shadedshu
Governments should be scared of their people, not people scared of their Governments. I expect the Britons amongst us know that they didn't report the loss of these records to the police until 5 days after they lost them.
Makes y'think...
It's only a matter of time until we all start being fed Soylent Green, and the food is just for the rich.
It's a bit of a police-state atm (and what a state, police don't hit you or anything, but nearly everything's illegal... I mean, c'mon, cannabis illegal? pfft, idjiots! Legalise it!), and what's worse, is that we, the public, pay the government, we employ the government, yet they tell us what to do.
I gotta say, if that's not a call for revolution, I don't know what is.We bitch, and we moan all year round, about how Blair is terrible, but I gotta say, Brown is terrible, with Blair being brilliant in comparison. At the very least, he was decisive, and wasn't so damned nervous all the time.
Still, I'm thankful I don't live in a under-developed country or one that suffers extreme conflict, but that doesn't mean we can't do anything about our own state of affairs, it's just most efforts are either wasted don't have the power that they should.
If people in our country don't think our politicians are corrupt let alone our Government, then their stupid!
Also, wouldn't mind if Ken Livingstone was replaced as Mayor of London by a dog. The dog would probably be better at the job, and would always agree that the plans for congestion charging are "rough" at best.I agree, there are huge isssues to deal with, the legalisation was a joke. This country, and many others, are in way over their heads.
People are too scared, and then the majorty of the voters will likely be anyone that's impressed by big words, and gimmicks, over people with cold hard real life facts.
Coming to the UK first, because they are weaker and more trusting.
But it will be here soon. We may be stronger and more skeptical, but most of our country is filled with idiots who will vote for security over liberty. Ignorant, yet strong.. that is this country's curse. Too easily taken advantage of by the Neo Conservatives.
Still, it's hard to imagine a country run entirely by the people, that would just never happen, plus it would most likely cause wars.
I hate people as a collective, we're so fucking stupid!