One million bank accounts going, going, gone for £35 on eBay

Davey Winder
Tuesday, 26 August 2008 15:55

Your IT - Home IT

We have also learned that 43 Home Office laptops and 94 mobile phones have been lost or stolen in the last three years.

Of course, the privacy pantomime does not stop there: how about the Ministry of Defence losing 600 laptops in the last decade, one recent laptop theft meaning that details of some 600,000 personnel was also lost.

Since 2001, in fact, the total number of laptops and mobile phones which contain 'sensitive information' that have either been stole or gone missing from UK Government departments has exceeded 3200 according to recent reports.

The Information Commissioner's Office has launched an investigation into the eBay banking millions case, but somehow I doubt it will make much difference at the end of the day.

Until Gordon Brown and big business starts to take data protection and the privacy of UK citizens seriously, nothing will change.

As Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather says "The Labour government has a disgraceful history of recklessness with personal data, showing a complete disrespect for our privacy. "Year after year the taxpayer is footing the bill for this Government's shocking carelessness."

The Home Office, meanwhile, has responded by insisting "The Home Office is determined to learn from earlier security breaches in government and is committed to ensuring that our systems and processes to protect personal data are as good as they can be."

Well, that's OK then...