Who else has lost your data? HMRC chapter 2

[2Grumpy]

Have a look at this link Viewpoint: Who else has lost your data? : Articles : Government Issues : BCS about other organisations losing computer disks etc

Grumpy

[wino]

Why don't we just cut out the middleman? Lets all walk around with sandwich boards strapped to our backs with all our personal info on there!

[2Grumpy]

It scares me

[Beserker]

Wino - We will be when we have I.D. cards!

[2Grumpy]

Especially if they are readable at a distance like oyster cards and the small value payment cards that are being trialled

Where I'm working at the moment, all hard drives have full disk encryption - even desktops with nothing sensitive. In a lot of places even sensitive information isn't protected.

Grumpy

[wino]

Originally Posted by Beserker

Wino - We will be when we have I.D. cards!

What info will the I.D. cards have on them. We already carry bank cards with our names on, driving licences with our address and date of birth on.

[2Grumpy]

Who knows whats going to be stored

How about

Finger prints
DNA finger print
date of birth
national insurance no
nhs no
digital photo

Presumably all linked to a nice secure computer somewhere (with copies of the database sent off to america for processing or something) so that more info can be retrieved (encrypted over a secure link)

Should be ok unless they get my details wrong / mixed up with someone else.

I do feel comfortable with all that

Grumpy

[indebtstudent]

I read an article which I felt made a very good point similar to those above. It may be a bit extreme to ask how I will get new fingers prints etc if somebody copies my Id card but I can see where the person was coming from. It is possible to switch bank accounts and the level of hassle depends how many things you have setup.

What really concerns me is that BEFORE this story broke Watchdog highlighted cases of ALL the date held on people being sent to another individual. After the show they got thousands more examples but NOBODY from HM Revnue and Customs would come on to talk about it.

Up until relatively recently I was undecided on ID cards but this has tipped the scales massively, the risks of a government ANY government having that much data are too great. The cards will be forged and likely massively over budget.

[dcdkpug]

you know what the goverment want us to pay for id cards dont they well they can take me to court if they so wish to because i dont tust them thats why i dont vote

[indebtstudent]

My understanding is they planned to replace the passport & Driving Licence with ID cards. This means you are free not to get one if you don't plan to go overseas or dirve. I'm less sure on the driving licence part...

[DorsetStrider]

I will not have an ID card - even if in time that means going to prison.

They are a MASSIVE step toward a total police state (like we haven't got one already) and I know from history where that leads (anyone wanna fire up the gas chambers???)

[DorsetStrider]

Back to the topic in hand I have a question.

Why is it that no one is facing criminal charges over these breeches? If this was a privately owned business that had breached the data protection act like this then someone would be eating bread and porrage as we speak...er...type....what ever!

Is this yet another example of the governments new "the law only applies to you plebs" policy?

[indebtstudent]

Good point but then again can anyone see the point of fining branches of government? I saw an article in the paper saying NHS trusts which perform poorly will be fined. I'm sure the managers are quaking in thier boots.

BTW I thought I would point out, in case anyone missed it, that the Watchdog program BEFORE the lost CD's debacle reported cases of people's data being sent to someone else. The irony is one person had arranged to have all the data HMRC held on him sent because he had been a victim of identity fraud.

Also two women had the same NI no and had done for years. Through no fault of her own one of them was told she couldn't claim her tax back beyond a certain time. They did relent the next week (post lost cd) and issued new NI numbers. Unfortunately these were also identical. You really couldn't make it up.

[JimmyTheOne]

The question is, Who else has lost your data? Nationwide 11 million, TK Maxx goodness knows how may, and staff at Marks & Sparks to add a few.

The only answer is you'll never know.

What you can do is render personal information which could be used to obtain credit cards, loans etc worthless to all but you.

Have a read of the following from The East of Scotland Fraud form:

(Click here).