The British government’s record on keeping personal data safe
In light of the recent loss of CDs containing the personal details of 25 million people by HM Revenue and Customs, it seems appropriate to summarise this government’s recent record on losing personal data and identity documents:
- In May this year, A hard drive turned up on eBay that contained data about children adopted and fostered by Southend Borough Council.
- Also earlier this year, a hard drive containing NHS patient data turned up on eBay.
- In October, former police officers were recently jailed for unauthorised access to the Police National Computer.
- Earlier this month, HM Revenue and Customs lost a CD with the details of thousands of Standard Life’s pensions customers when it was sent by post to Standard Life’s offices in Edinburgh. It never arrived.
Note that this is a topic I have covered before, the following list summarises the events previously reported:
- Between 2004 and 2006, 1,500 passports handled by the Home Office went missing, with a total of 35,000 going missing over the 5 years to 2006.
- Organised criminals managed to steal 1,500 staff identities from the Dept of Work and Pensions, identities which they then used to commit tax credit fraud.
- Also at the Dept for Work and Pensions, some civil servants were found to have sold the details of hundreds of thousands of people to criminal gangs.
- The DVLA has been caught selling personal details to private companies, some of whom went on to extort people.
- Also at the DVLA, a member of staff sold personal details to animal rights activists who then terrorised people.
- Inmates at a young offenders institute in Reading were accidently given the personal details of the prison warders.
Clearly, the government cannot be trusted with our personal data.
Finally, a comprehensive list of data abuse stories (including commercial cases) can be found at UK Liberty’s data abuse page.