Missing answer

Today the Independent writes that “An investigation is underway after a memory stick with user names and passwords for a government computer system was found in a pub car park, leading to the shutting down of the website as a security precaution

The latest embarrassing episode for the Government in a long list of data mishandling involved the Gateway website, which is used by members of the public to access dozens of services including self-assessment tax returns, pension entitlements and child benefits. It has 12 million registered users.”

Earlier James Purnell, the Work and Pensions Secretary, had to apologise for leaving confidential letters on a train last month. And this is the latest in a long line of losing important information. The Indy catalogues it below:

*October 2008: Ministry of Defence loses disc with details of 100,000 members of Armed Forces.
*September 2008: Files on 200 patients lost by NHS Trust in Co Durham.
*August 2008: Home Office contractor loses memory stick with files on 84,000 prisoners.
*June 2008: Government official leaves top secret documents on train.
*April 2008: Army captain’s laptop taken as he ate in McDonald’s.
*January 2008: Details of 600,000 potential Navy recruits go missing in Birmingham.
*December 2007: Three million driving test candidates’ details disappear.
*November 2007: HM Revenue & Customs loses child benefit records with details of 25 million people.

It got me wondering about the conspiracy versus cock-up theory. Why is that so much government related info is going astray? Why don’t we hear more in the press about supermarkets or insurance companies losing information on us – they probably have just as much on file as some government departments.

I guess it has something to do with the media wanting the government to look bad. The same thing happens come exam time. Millions of bits of information circulate around the country between schools and exam boards and even the slightest error is well publicised.

But on government data loss the cynic in me thinks that libertarian journalists are trying to block the introduction of ID cards, and perhaps some public officials are deliberately slack with the info they have access to. Most probably the majority of reported incidents are genuine cock-ups, however.