We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.

Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]

What planet are these guys on?

Suppose that Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs have lost your personal financial information (along with that of 25 million other people) on a set of lost CDs, or perhaps they have simply lost all the details of your VAT registration.

In any event, the criminals have your National Insurance number. You are worried about fraud. It is good that HMRC have provided information to help you deal with it.

(Via the Register).

7 comments to What planet are these guys on?

  • Johnathan Reale

    I’d love to say how much I enjoyed this post, but, you know, (This text has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)

  • guy herbert

    Perhaps you can buy it back from some criminal and claim that against tax. After all that appears to be what the revenue does.

  • If it wasn’t so disturbing, that would actually be funny.

  • Midwesterner

    On the assumption that the attention would cause them to alter or remove the page, I saved a copy to disk. Wouldn’t a screen capture of it make interesting wall paper? Maybe rotated 90 degrees to reduce the visual confusion.

    For some reason, looking at this page caused me to wonder something unrelated. If you put a fence around Whitehall and ignored them, would any of them actually notice?

  • Ya know what might fix this? An “in-country” passport.

    Yep, problem solved.

    Government to the rescue!!!

  • Brad

    In a similar vein, the State of Wisconsin where I live sent out 2006 tax forms to a goodly portion of the filers with their social security number squarely on the mailing label. After much embarrassment and apologies, and a free subscription to an Equifax account to see if anyone is using the broadcasted information to steal their identity, the State turned around and did it again in 2007.

    Morons.

    Once again to those who acquiesce so easily to government gathering of information and issuing of control numbers, saying that “if you’ve got nothing to hide blah blah blah”. The information WILL be LOST, BROADCASTED AND ABUSED.

  • That’s quite a stunning find Mr. Jennings, I’ll have to pass it on, despite the exemptions of the FOI Act!