How do they do it - the very term "Connecting for Health" inspires the thought of all manner of odious authoritarianism, pompous parochial amateurish bureaucracies and third-rate PR pap.

Yes, we are in a Database State and this is a godsend for the move to block the ID card process.

first link is broken, BTW

Link fixed now, Emma.

Don't count your chickens yet...

"Another said: "This is just the tip of the iceberg." Cost cuts mean that staff are discouraged from sending post first class, let alone registered delivery, he added."

Another excuse to gouge us?

Don't count your chickens yet...

Hence the bonus quote, which is about fighting as hard as you can when battle is joined, rather than coasting on presumed victory.

From 'Die Welt'

The conservative Die Welt writes:

"The Brits, like all people, must pay a price for their virtues. The flipside of their tolerance is carelessness if not outright sloppiness.... Now, though, tolerance has reached its limits: to lose the complete computer data of all receivers of children's assistance in the mail is more than a crime. It's utter stupidity."

"The regulations for handling such material are incredibly strict. But those regulations are often ignored -- out of carelessness. The British have seen, for example, the result of such carelessness in the nation's hospitals: Every year some 5,000 people die from diseases they catch after being checked in. Now the government has announced a 'Deep clean' policy for the National Health System. Immigration authorities also know that illegal immigrants should not be getting work permits. Nonetheless, 10,000 of them -- as was recently made public -- managed to find jobs with security services, one in the garage responsible for the prime minister's limousine. Inefficiency and incompetence: what's to ward it off? The Brits have had enough."

You are correct not to assume victory Guy (after all some nasty statutes have already been passed).

However, things are looking better for liberty than they were.

Last Toryboy: this is what really annoys me about all of this. They don't seem to understand the problem. The fact that the entire Child Benefit database was burnt, unencrypted, onto a couple of CDs by a "junior official" and sent halfway across the country doesn't bother them in the slightest.They think it would all have been just hunky-dory if it had been sent Registered. Or emailed.

This is not simple low-level blundering caused by a lack of employee discipline; it's sheer, ingrained, basic ignorance and incompetence. They are simply not - to use a favourite term of the Government's - "fit for purpose".

And of course they are lying Sam - as it was not just a low level offical.

Oddly enough their lie does not serve them well - as if a "low level official" could do all this on his own......

I'm a information security risk manager for one of the larger global financial financial processors. We're regularly subjected to extensive government, PCI and client audits as well as run very extensive assessments internally. While we are constantly working to anticipate the ever-evolving threat to cardholder data, we're very aggressive in our efforts. We recognize security is a process, not a final state.

At the same, I would never, ever use a credit card (and increasingly a check, given ACH fraud) at a government office. Many I visit leave workstation terminals unguarded and unlocked without timeouts, use shared accounts and passwords (which is terribly insecure and defeats the ability to monitor specific employee behavior), use poor passwords (like Friday456) and have incredibly poor overall information security. Worst of all, these governmental fools regard security as a finite state - in my previous external audit job, I'd routinely hear comments like "we're secure because we have a Sonicwall firewall!" Yes, usually an unwatched, unlogged firewall lacking sufficient rulesets and having state-level awareness that was 3+ years old.

My recommendations to those that want to avoid harm from their government (besides not electing any liberals and fatcat conservatives):

1. Use checks. Increasing automation of ACH puts those at risk (e.g. storage of your account information which they have no business doing, but often go ahead anyway).
2. Use a separate at-risk "payments only" checking account. We actually use three - an inflow account for payroll direct deposit, transfer to an online billpay outbound account and a third highest risk personal check writing account.
3. Do not ever link a debit card to the inflow/repository account. This is where you keep money until you transfer it to other accounts for bill pay, investing, etc. Keep this unlinked. Never write checks from it.
4. Transfer only sufficient money for billpay to the outflow accounts. I write my government ones out of the high-risk account, use cheap checks and have very little to lose if someone abuses it.
5. Expect eventual fraud and loss from high-risk sources, and be prepared to detect and respond to it in a timely manner with minimal impact.

The last step is really the most empowering recommendation. I expect my government payments to eventually be put at risk. I would be shocked if they weren't already in some illicit database, just waiting for their use. Only through minimizing your exposure to an incompetent and corrupt governmental organization can you reduce the harm you'll experience.

Sounds excessive? Not if you knew what kinds of incidents we see from the bad guys.