UK Government Has Poor Privacy Record
According to calculations by the BBC, in the year leading up to April 2008 the UK government lost personal information of four million of its citizens.
UK Government Has Poor Privacy Record
August 25, 2008: According to calculations by the BBC, in the year leading up to April 2008 the UK government lost personal information of four million of its citizens.
The disastrous HMRC incident when two DVDs containing the details of 25 million benefit recipients was lost in the mail is the first to spring to mind, and worse still the HMRC has reportedly had a further 1,993 data breaches since October 2007. Most of these did not result in data losses according to Treasury minister Jane Kennedy, and instead constitute “potential weaknesses reported by staff”.
Beyond HMRC, the Ministry of Justice, the Home Office, the Department for Transport and, worryingly, the Ministry of Defense have all reported data losses and security breaches from lost laptops, CDs, paper records and more.
Overall the losses do not paint a pretty picture of responsibility for the UK government, particularly considering it is storing more information than ever before in centralised databases, and from CCTV cameras monitoring traffic and crime.
This depressing track record UK government departments are accruing has lead MP’s to call for stronger legislation around data protection, and for 'data guardians' to be appointed to monitor the government’s handling of private information.
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