HMRC data scandal - 350 people in witness protection scheme at risk
The Daily Telegraph has a report which confirms our initial fears about the scandal involving unencrypted data transfers of the whole Child Benefit Award database by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and by the National Audit Office. This involves far, far more than just the risk of financial fraud:
[hat tip to UK Liberty]
Lost data discs 'endanger protected witnesses'by Andrew Porter, Political Editor
The Daily Telegraph
Last Updated: 10:36am GMT 05/12/2007Hundreds of people in police witness protection programmes have been put at risk by the loss of millions of child benefit records, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
The missing data discs are understood to contain both the real names and the new identities of up to 350 people who have had their identities changed after giving evidence against major criminals.
The development is one of the most serious so far in the missing data discs scandal, in which the child benefit records of 25 million people - including their names, addresses, birth dates, national insurance numbers and bank account details - were lost by HM Revenue and Customs.
The new identities of protected witnesses would be valuable property on the criminal market and, if they fell into the wrong hands, could place their lives and those of their families in jeopardy.
It will cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds to provide the witnesses with yet another identity.
[...]
A senior police source said: "This is disastrous. People's lives could be in danger. It makes a mockery of the witness protection programme."
[...]
Why is there still no offer of a substantial financial reward and a promise of immunity from prosecution, in return for these missing CDs, forthcoming from the Government ?
What about all the other categories of people whose real names and home addresses could also have been revealed e.g. Police Officers, Prison Warders, Judges, Intelligence Agency employees, and frontline Military Personnel currently facing the risk of capture and torture by our enemies in Iraq, Afghanistan or Iran etc.?
Comments
News just in:
Posted by: ukliberty | December 5, 2007 4:41 PM
Recovering the CDs is fairly meaningless by now. The first thing any sensible criminal would do is make several copies. What we need is a £20000 reward for anyone who can make the government stop hoarding information. Not just cause it can and will fall into the wrong hands, but just as much out of the concern that maybe the government aren't the right hands to begin with.
Posted by: Anonymous thankyouverymuch | December 7, 2007 2:08 PM
The 'senior' police source that is quoted in the telegraph article clearly knows nothing about how systems operate for protecting the identities of vulnerable witnesses etc
Posted by: ACIO | February 27, 2008 6:06 PM
@ ACIO - what about these recent murders of supposedly protected witnesses ?
Joan and John Stirland
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7257435.stm
Giles van Colle
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article1701548.ece
Posted by: wtwu | February 27, 2008 9:14 PM
I responded several days ago - why no posting?
Posted by: ACIO | February 29, 2008 2:23 PM
Someone, an officer or one of the protected persons, must have compromised the processes that are put in place.
The disc data is irrelevant. There would have been no connection between the old and new identity even if they were both on the same disc
Posted by: ACIO | February 29, 2008 2:32 PM