(((You can always depend on THE REGISTER for thigh-slapping
British wonk humour.)))
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/21/hmarc_ebay_auction/
Link: Lost HMRC discs pop up on eBay | The Register .
Well, it had to happen, and so here you have it - those mislaid HMRC discs going for a song down at eBay:
Since we have no doubt the powers that be down at the world's fave tat bazaar will move rather more quickly to remove this auction than they do to act on iffy vendors, here's the accompanying text:
"Here we have two CD-R's for auction. They are not blank, but seem to have some sort of database written to them. I found them in my local courier firm's sorting office, addressed to
"Her Majesties Audit Office - Child Benefits Section" and marked
"Sensitive HM Government Information - DO NOT LOSE - ENSURE THESE DISKS DO NOT FALL INTO THE HANDS OF THE CRIMINAL FRATERNITY"
They were obviously surplus to requirements. (((Keen in-joke here, as Prime Minister Gordon Brown combined two vast British bureaux into the even vaster British bureau that just misplaced the bank numbers of half the British population. Brown said that the fired clerks were "surplus to requirements." These disks are almost certainly sitting somewhere in an unread mail-bag.
Unread because there is nobody left to read them.
No they are not really disks for sale in eBay. Just kidding. Sorry.)))"I haven't read the data myself. The database appears to have approximately 25 milion records in it, but is password protected, so it is impossible to read it and it's definitely impossible to extract any bank account data from it.
"Any information that you might discover (should you be lucky enough to win the auction for these useful items and read the database thereon) must be kept in the strictest confidence...."
