Timothy Pitt-Payne considers the legal implications
of the HMRC data disaster
“To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.” And to lose every parent in the country? Even Oscar Wilde’s Lady Bracknell might be left speechless.
On 20 November 2007 the chancellor of the exchequer made a statement to the House of Commons about what he described as “an extremely serious failure” at HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). In October 2007 a junior official at HMRC sent two CDs to the National Audit Office (NAO) by courier. The disks contained a full copy of HMRC’s child benefits database, including names, addresses, dates of birth, national insurance numbers, and bank and building society account details. There was information about 25 million individuals. The disks were password protected but not encrypted, and the package in which they were sent was neither registered nor recorded. The CDs did not arrive at the NAO. For the past few weeks, every family claiming child benefit has been left wondering if their personal information has fallen into criminal hands.
POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES
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