Link: BBC NEWS | Politics | Brown apologises for records loss.
Brown apologises for records loss
"Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he "profoundly regrets" the loss of 25 million child benefit records.
"He told MPs he apologised for the "inconvenience and worries" caused and said the government was working to prevent the data being used for fraud.
"But Conservative leader David Cameron said the government had "failed in its first duty to protect the public".
"The Revenue and Customs data on the missing discs includes names, dates of birth, bank and address details. (((Uh-oh.)))
'Mistakes'
During a heated prime minister's questions session, Mr Brown said: "I profoundly regret and apologise for the inconvenience and worries that have been caused to millions of families who receive child benefits. (((Looks to me like the inventors of compact recording media ought to be apologizing too, but given that we all use those, it's a little late in the day. How on earth can any institution on Earth protect every conceivable plastic disk? There's zillions, folks.)))
"When mistakes happen in enforcing procedures, we have a duty to do everything we can to protect the public." (((You could hide them in a pizza.)))
But Mr Cameron said: "They will be angry that the government has failed in its first duty to protect the public." (((You could put 200 of them in a shoulder bag.)))
He added: "What people want from their prime minister on a day like this is to show some broad shoulders, be the big man and accept some responsibility." (((Stray CDs weigh no more than a few grams.)))
Mr Cameron said people were "desperately worried" and they would "find it frankly weird" that Mr Brown still wanted to go ahead with plans for a national ID cards scheme and register. (((That part I definitely understand. Twenty five million kids. You only have to lose the national ID CDs once.)))
Earlier, the Tories questioned whether Alistair Darling was "up to the job" of chancellor.
Mr Darling said he "deeply regretted" what had happened, but stressed there was no evidence of misuse of the data.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Darling said his confidence had been "shaken" by what he described as a "catastrophic" incident.
''There's no doubt in my mind there have been very, very serious breaches here.
"People are entitled to trust the government to look after information that is given to it - for child benefit or any other purposes - and that did not happen here," said the chancellor.
He said the information, which was on two CDs, should "should never, ever have left the building in which it was stored." (((What, not even during fires or huge, unexpected British floods?)))
(...)
Mr Darling said banks were monitoring all 7.25 million bank accounts whose details were on the discs, which contained the personal details of all child benefit recipients in the UK. (((Hoo boy, THATs reassuring. Why not just monitor every bank account around the clock and FORGET about citizen databanks?)))
People are being urged by both the chancellor and banks to keep a close eye on their accounts "for unusual activity"...
More... and worse:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/20/hmrc_huge_data_loss/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/20/hmrc_huge_data_loss/
