Security, we don't need no steenkin security

[Salem]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7104115.stm
This isn't the only incident of it's kind either in the recent past.

And these are the same muppets who are trying to push an all encompassing ID card on the UK population. In the time between it being hacked, and the govt finally giving up on the "it's infallible" line, anyone caught out by ID theft is going to be in for a very hard time of proving it wasn't them.

[Lardmeister]

These kind of things only happen in England. In the USA we have privacy laws in place to prevent those things from happening.

[John A]

These kind of things only happen in England. In the USA we have privacy laws in place to prevent those things from happening.

You forgot the ":icon_rolleyes:" .

[jwenting]

These kind of things only happen in England. In the USA we have privacy laws in place to prevent those things from happening.

UK privacy laws are (at least on paper) stricter than those in the US.
Of course there's a massive hole in those laws (as in all of Europe) that means they don't apply to the government but that's not the problem here.

The problem is that human beings make mistakes.
The CDs were backups that someone lost. Unless and until they're found there's a serious risk of exposing that information.

That's a procedural error, and a serious one. Thus the procedure failed, something against which no procedure or law can protect you.
In fact the more procedures you have and the more complicated they are the greater the chance they'll fail.

[madoverclocker]

i remeber not too long ago there was the loss of a company laptop that exposed millions of peoples credit card numbers here in the usa. as i recall it was stollen out of the back of a car.... goes to show how secure we are...

[Salem]

> In fact the more procedures you have and the more complicated
> they are the greater the chance they'll fail.
A corollary of that is that it is much harder to figure out who to blame for the mistake.

> In the USA we have privacy laws in place to prevent those things from happening.
That's right, you just keep believing the PR that your system is infallible.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4107236.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6509993.stm
And these are only some of the ones which make it into the news. Financial institutions don't wash their laundry in public unless they're forced into it.

OK, so neither of those cases are your govt. screwing up, but are you naive enough to believe that it has never happened (and nobody blew the whistle), or it can never happen?
People are in the system, so either through incompetence or malice, the system will fail at some point.

The US is as money driven as any country is ever likely to be. Security (like quality) is one of those things where success is measured by the amount of things which don't happen.

Unfortunately, measuring "nothing" is very hard for bean counters, and it's often one of the things on the chopping block when the budgets need to be squeezed. Sure you ride along for a while and all seems as it was before, then the rot sets in.

[Lardmeister]

"you ride along for a while and then the rot sets in" now here is a good thought of day thingy!!!!

[MidiMagic]

Security solutions:

1. Mail a blanket to all people who want security instead of freedom.

2. Abolish all man-made systems of identification.

3. Stop trying to keep track of every person in the country.

[madoverclocker]

[QUOTE=MidiMagic;478092]Security solutions:

1. Mail a blanket to all people who want security instead of freedom.

2. Abolish all man-made systems of identification.

3. Stop trying to keep track of every person in the country.[/QUOTE

i completely agree

[jbennet]

theyve just admitted theyve lost more

[jwenting]

once you start digging in bureaucracies for misplaced and otherwise lost data that noone noticed lost because it was burried in paperwork you'll always find some, usually find a lot.

[vegaseat]

theyve just admitted theyve lost more

Do I smell a cover-up? You have to forgive them, most of these fellows have the basic instincts of politicians.