11 December 2007
BARELY a fortnight after the HMRC revealed it had 'lost' the personal
details and bank details of up to 25 million people [1], another government
agency has admitted to losing discs of sensitive information.
The Driver and Vehicle Agency in Northern Ireland (DVAni) sent two compact
discs containing details of 6,000 people, unencrypted, to the UK's DVLA
centre in Swansea on November 20 and 21-about the same time as Alistair
Darling was announcing the previous massive data loss to the Commons [2].
They never arrived.
Phil Booth, NO2ID National Coordinator, said:
"Another day, another catastrophe. The government has no idea how to treat
your confidential information-or doesn't care.
"The government tells us that driving licenses are one of the primary
sources of proving our identity-yet here they are handing them out by the
thousand."
"Unless the government gives up its headlong, unthinking rush towards
information suicide, this sort of blunder is the sign of the future."
Although the loss of names and addresses, car registrations and even bank
details could have disastrous consequences for those affected, if the
government gets its way the details potentially being posted and lost or
drawn from databases accessible to hundreds of thousands of people will
contain far more consolidated information, including biometric scans. It is
possible to reissue a bank card or account, but not our fingers and eyes.
Information on the two missing discs included registration number, chassis
number, make, model and colour of 7,685 vehicles, and the names and
addresses of more than 6,000 registered owners. Northern Ireland's
Environment Minister Arlene Foster said she was "not optimistic" of the
discs being found.
Notes for editors:
[1] See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7138408.stm
[2] See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7103566.stm
[3] NO2ID is the UK-wide non-partisan campaign against ID cards and the
database state. See http://www.no2id.net/dbstate.php for a list of 'database
state' initiatives that NO2ID is actively opposing.
For more information, or for immediate or future interview, please contact:
- Phil Booth (National Coordinator, national.coordinator@no2id.net) on 07974
230 839
- Guy Herbert (General Secretary, general.secretary@no2id.net)
on 07956 544 308
- Michael Parker (Press Officer, press.officer@no2id.net)
on 07773 376 166.
The NO2ID Campaign
Box 412
19-21 Crawford Street
London W1H 1PJ
enquiries@no2id.net
Tel: 07005 800 651
Press: click here
