BS: Lost data UK Government

Subject: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: Rasener
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 04:53 AM

I think it is appalling what has happened with the lost data.
The excuse it was too expensive to only provide a few bits of info.
How ludicrous. Surely it was possible to query the database and filter only the information needed without too much cost.

So what next apart from people losing their jobs etc.

They have now sent over 7 million letters out to affected people apologising for the error.
Hang on, how much does that cost?
There is obviously the material costs such as paper, ink, envelopes, postage.
What about the labour costs involved including the labour costs delivering the bloody things and the rubbish afterwards and teh trees used.

Utterly disgraceful.

We are one of those affected, but I don't need an apology and I do not need money wasted in this way. This money could have been used for shoring up our collapsing National health.

I'll get me coat.

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: GUEST, Sminky
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 05:50 AM

The irony is that even if they had filtered out the 'unwanted' data, they would still have been in breach of the Data Protection Act due to the unsecure method of sending the stuff.

It beggars belief that in the electronic age, when it is perfectly possible to transmit data securely 'over the wire', that they resorted to sending CDs via unrecorded courier service.

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 05:52 AM

Its very strange isn't it - the way computers decide - no I can't do that, no use asking me, bugger off!

In a way its comforting to know they treat the highest in the land with the same disdain they treat the rest of us.

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work for HMRC
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 06:04 AM

Villan, you are not the only one appalled by this breakdown in security by my employers - and I'm sure you're equally stunned at the article in the Sun newspap today (can't do a blicky at work but cut and paste this: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article498005.ece), but the bottom line is, the initial costs are what matters. Of course, with hindsight, it's turned out more expensive and that could have been avoided, but at the time, managers thought it was the right course of action and at that time avoided a costly process.

The trespass of a reporter into the office building I work in, was down to the failings of an independent security firm, rather than any employee of HMRC.

As for saying that the money used for sending out these letters would shore up the National Health, that's total nonsense. Any money spent on writing and posting these letters is coming from the HRMC budget - so those "voluntary redundancies" that the government want to make in many HMRC departments, will end up being compulsory, which will do no-one any good.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: Rasener
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 06:19 AM

>>shore up the National Health, that's total nonsense<<

Maybe I should have said better served by shoring up the National Health.

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 06:20 AM

The words, piss ups and breweries spring to mind.

eric

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: GUEST, Sminky
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 06:35 AM

the bottom line is, the initial costs are what matters

LTS - you've revealed the mindset that allows these disasters to happen.

Adherence to the law of this land and the protection of citizens' personal information at any cost is what matters.

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 06:53 AM

The money would be better served in providing adequate facilities in the department it was allocated to by the Government.

The National Health Service is not the only government department that is sadly underfunded, but it is the most emotive. HMRC does not have the facilities or the funding to provide the facilities a perfect world requires.

And before anyone leaps on me, saying I'm defending my employer because I have to - I'm also affected by the data loss. The reporter in my office has had a direct effect on our working practices and morale , I'm totally flabbergasted at the results of such parsimonious behaviour but even more disgusted that the blame for the data loss has been placed on one of the lower grade workers, doing what his managers instructed him to do.

Every argument has two sides; when one side affects you, it's very difficult to see the other side of it.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: GUEST,LTS
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 07:00 AM

Sminky - I haven't revealed it, it's been obvious to anyone who works for any local or national government department that corners are there to be cut, money is to be saved at all costs - even to the extent of stationery rationing and power conservation.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: GUEST, Sminky
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 07:19 AM

LTS - Sorry, I wasn't having a go at you personally.

I myself work for Local Government. We've just had our water coolers removed for 'efficiency' reasons. Oh boy!

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 07:44 AM

That's funny - they weren't short black ones with blue lights on were they? I got back from a week off to find we've got new water coolers...

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: GUEST,PMB
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 07:47 AM

Aren't HMRC responsible for which security contractor they choose then? Where does the buck stop? Why should a 23 year old kid be held responsible for doing something that the organisational failings of experts made possible? How could he even get at the files to copy them onto a CD? Aren't junior staff restricted on a need-to-access basis?

More to the point, if they find the CDs, how will we know that they've found the actual copies sent, and not just some others made up to assuage public fears?

Liz, you'll have to make do with gin, with gin...

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: GUEST,LTS pretending - oh hell, you know by now
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 08:00 AM

Yes.. 'junior' (or low grade, "lowly") staff do not have the accesses that higher grades have.

Files on disks usually have a 'file created' date on them, but I see your point, only the perpetrators will ever know if they get substituted.

Employing external companies for contract work such as cleaning, security and building is the provenance of yet another government department, not specifically HMRC.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: GUEST, Sminky
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 08:02 AM

LTS - Beware! They will make you less efficient.

We're not even allowed to rent our own coolers for 'health and safety' reasons.

I shall make up for my lack of liquid refreshment this weekend - BIG TIME!

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: GUEST,LTS still here...
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 08:51 AM

I can see the point... time is wasted in visiting the water cooler (chatting, drinking, chatting), time is wasted in disposing of water cooler by-products (toilet breaks, chatting, doing hair, washing hands, adjusting clothing, chatting)... I can see where they are coming from.

Trouble is, we do those things regardless of whether there is a cooler or not!

Although Health and Safety states that an employer must provide adequate refreshment facilities - where adequate means facilites for heating water, storing chilled foodstuffs safely and provision of potable water; as all tap water in England is considered potable if not nice tasting, a tap is all they need provide.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: GUEST, Sminky
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 09:43 AM

They wouldn't let us hire our own water coolers in case we:

a) snapped our spines in carrying the replacement bottles, or
b) broke our necks slipping on any spilt water.

They neglected to consider the effects of our banging our heads against the wall in despair.

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: Rasener
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 10:25 AM

Ludicrous

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: GUEST,Long-term British resident
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 10:44 AM

For some time now, absolutely nothing surprises me with regard to inefficiency, incompetence, arrogance, downright stupidity in any Governmental department, any Civil Service office, any "quango", any bloody organisation at all. What does get me is, why and for how long will people put up with it? Like the Poll Tax, once these bloody ID Cards are brought in, watch all the opposition parties putting on a big show of "opposing" but at the same time being careful not to encourage anyone to break the law by refusing to have anything to do with them. It's all a game devised by some entity that hasn't got a clue about any rules except how to piss off the maximum number of people and cost the maximumum   Acccchtttt!

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 12:11 PM

I have never understood the point of water dispensers. Usually the water out of them is less clean than tap water. Who the hell drinks water for pleasure?

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 12:19 PM

Richard - they frown upon the use of gin as a common beverage in my office... Look at the monumental cockups we've made sober, and then imagine what we could do, as pissed as any three farts!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 12:54 PM

I think it is appalling what has happened with the lost data.

What happened?

Actually, my local newsrag had an article that I assume is the event in question. (No link as they don't leave anything accessible for more than about 3 days.) It does NOT seem to have appeared on the few "web news" sites I visit, thus - for those not in the UK:

[quoted via OCR from scan]

THE WICHITA EAGLE • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2007 [Wichita KS, US]

25 million Britons at risk of identity theft

The British government lost two CDs with detailed identity and financial information on millions of families who receive child benefits

BY KIM MURPHY
Los Angeles Times

LONDON — The British government was reeling under a political firestorm Wednesday brought on by revelations that the personal identity and banking details of 25 million Britons have been lost in the government's internal mail system. In what Treasury Chancellor Alistair Darling called a "catastrophic" and "unforgivable" breach, government officials admitted they still have no idea what happened to two compact discs that contained birthdates, addresses, government ID numbers and bank account details for nearly every family in Britain with a child under the age of 16. Financial analysts said the missing data could allow anyone who found it to apply for loans or mortgages under an adopted identity. Child welfare workers said the loss compromised children's safety by including names, birthdates and addresses of millions of children. Banks were bracing for a flood of queries from account holders worried that their account security could be compromised.

Though Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been in office only five months, his government is taking a pummeling over this security breach — mainly because it is not the first. At least two other significant security lapses have occurred under his watch.

The new crisis follows the Brown government's bailout of the nation's fifth-largest mortgage lender, Northern Rock, after fallout from the subprime lending crisis in the U.S. in September led to the first run on a British bank in more than a century.

"I profoundly regret and apologize for the inconvenience and worries that have been caused to millions of families who receive child benefit," Brown said as he received a blistering attack in the House of Commons.

The loss involves records maintained for Britons who receive government stipends of about $38 a week for their children under the age of 16— nearly all British families with children, sincethere are no income restrictions on the payments.

The payments often are deposited directly into families' bank accounts, meaning account numbers and muting codes are included in a large number of files.

"Half the country will be very anxious about the safety of their family and the security of their bank accounts, and the whole country will be wondering how on earth the government allowed this to happen," the opposition Conservative Party's shadow chancellor, George Osborne, said.

[end quote]

Is this the right stuff?

John

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: Rasener
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 01:38 PM

Yes

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: danensis
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 04:21 PM

So let's do a little arithmetic. Two CDs at 650MBytes each. 25 million records. That works out about 64 Bytes each. Hardly room to get a name and address let alone anything more useful,

John

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 06:15 PM

Most likely, perhaps:

1. There are 25 million people in the database.
2. The 2 disks contain data on some of them.
3. The govt doesn't know which ones.
4. All 25 million have to worry.

The 2 disks could contain enough data on 25 million people to be of some use to criminals, but not without some additional effort for each victim they choose.

Although it's not much reassurance, numerous mysterious losses of "data" by both governments and by private companies, some of which have never been reported to be recovered, have not been a confirmed source of significant numbers of actual identity thefts. Of course, "insignificant" isn't necessarily zero; and one is very significant if it happens to be you.

Given the publicity over this incident, and especially given the apparent hysteria and politicising over it, phishing scams - possibly emails claiming to be from the govt office(s) responsible (to confirm the lost data?)- should be anticipated, and may not be limited to those on the disks and/or may not necessarily use any information from the disks.

A criminal would much prefer executing a fraud plan only against those who confirm their stupidity by responding to a phish, rather than to randomly send out possibly-traceable info to large numbers of people or to their agents, if the large numbers would include many who might actually check their accounts and report the attempts quickly. They don't have to have any data from the lost disks, or even have the disks, to go phishing, so that probably is the most likely real threat from this incident for most people.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: folk1e
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 06:43 PM

Was the data lost from an "internal post service"?
If so it means that the discs could be lying in an in tray as we speak.
If e-mails are loged it would mean there would be a paper trail (or should that be e-mail trail) to the more senior officer who would (presumably) have had to sanction the action!
Why were they unconcerned about compliance with the data protection act?
Failiure to comply carries a £5,000.00 Fine for each item of information ...... now that's 20,000,000 times £5,000
..... ummm that makes it £100,000,000,000.00!!! (One Hundred Thousand Million Pounds in English)
This could mean Allister Darling could cancel income tax for a year!
YES!! That man gets my vote!

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: the lemonade lady
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 07:00 PM

Well I think if the country swallows this, the government really have got us in the palm of their hands. Important data like this is backed up. I don't doubt it.

10-15 years from now we'll see that this didn't happen at all and that it was all a story to redirect the people's attention away from what is really happening. This is a smoke screen. How do we know this has really happened? We're told it's ok, no harm will be done. Well of course no harm will be done, it hasn't happened at all. How can we find out for real? Think about it. I think it's brilliant, but I think I can see thru it. Can you proove me wrong?

Sal

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 07:16 PM

Has anyone looked for them on ebay?

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 08:46 PM

There isa letter going out to all affected which should land on your doorsteps sometime next week. Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs will not email anyone, we simply don't have the facilities to do that. We won't ring you to ask for confirmation of your bank details either.

The basic thing is to not panic and to keep an eye on your bank statements, don't respond to any Emails that might be sent to you in the name of HMRC, and don't disclose your security questions to anyone. Change your passwords if you use family names and birthdates.

Knowing the internal postal system as I do, it is highly likely that the disks are still in an office somewhere, waiting for someone to come back from long term leave, or to find their desk under the piles of post regularly dumped there. They could be in any number of places because the post rooms are operated by the same over worked, underpaid members of staff as every other office across the land... humans. If we weren't all trying to meet targets, beat deadlines and do the work of 30 with the resources for 10, then it might never have happened.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: Rasener
Date: 24 Nov 07 - 03:36 AM

>>There isa letter going out <<

Thats why I started this thread. Bloody waste of tax payers money.
How much has it cost to send those out, plus all the labour involved to do it.

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: the lemonade lady
Date: 24 Nov 07 - 04:06 AM

Keeping up the smoke screen. What better way to concentrate the people's mind on something; aiming for the wallet!

Sal

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: Rasener
Date: 24 Nov 07 - 04:10 AM

LOL by labour I meant the hours not the party

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: kendall
Date: 24 Nov 07 - 08:41 AM

Does anyone besides me wonder if governments hire patsies just in case they need a scapegoat when such a cock-up happens? Does "Scooter" Libby sound familiar?

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: Sooz
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 03:43 AM

Have a look at the MATT cartoon
in todays Telegraph!

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 05:55 AM

No Kendall, we don't hire patsies - the upper echelons of staff shift the blame as far down the chain as possible which is why some poor 23yr old is now undergoing psychiatric monitoring for stress because it was his hands put the disks into the post - following the instructions of one of those upper echelons. The same happens when we don't meet our targets. No-one fires the managers who keep moving the targets, they fire the poor sods who are doing their best to follow instructions that often change weekly and can't keep up.   Who needs patsies when you've got junior members of staff to blame?

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: Rasener
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 07:28 AM

That does appear to be the problem LTS, too many chief plonkers covering their backsides and blaming everybody else.

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 08:23 AM

Liz....have you checked your desk?!!

I'll wait and see if I actually get one of these letters although I do think it's a waste of money and they could be using that money to implement better security proceedures. Ho Hum.

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 10:10 AM

I was not in the office on the day that they went missing...

I wasn't even in the same county as they were....

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I too, think the money would have been better spent on providing suitable facilities for staff to fulfil their tasks efficiently and securely, but it's not going to happen.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: Big Phil
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 10:43 AM

Its a complete balls up. No excuses, the buck stops at the top. The chief clown, Brown will have to go.

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 11:30 AM

I have a deep suspicion that this particular cock-up, and others like it, can be at least partly blamed on the modern cult of 'professionalism'. You see, at one time, most people had a 'job' whilst a few, eg. doctors, solicitors etc., were 'professionals'. Now everyone is a 'professional' - apart, that is, from the dwindling band of lowly, poorly paid gofers and scapegoats who actually perform real tasks.

Your modern 'professional' may have a 'job description' but is mainly committed to developing his/her 'career'. This involves spending a lot of time in meetings, getting noticed, spouting meaningless but trendy jargon, scoring points off other 'professionals' and trying to divine the meaning of the utterances of the 'Great Man' (ie. The Boss) - so that He can be 'sucked up to' before anyone else can divine His meaning and suck up to Him.

'Professionals' (in the modern sense) have no sense of proportion, so that simple tasks are grossly over-complicated and complicated tasks are grossly over-simplified. Both approaches are likely to get the 'professional' noticed - and if things go wrong there is always the dwindling band of 'gofers' to blame. And if all that fails there is always 'Health and Safety' and various forms of political correctness to fall back on (notice how these worthy causes now seem to be a refuge for power-mad but incompetent mountebanks and scounderels).

Finally, the 'professional' has a lot of responsibility for budgets - and the easiest way to manage a budget, and get yourself noticed at the same time, is to make cuts. Implementing cuts makes you look ruthless and efficient - even though cuts may not be appropriate and may damage the organisation (not to mention the work force and the customer) in the long-term.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that the modern, toxic form of 'professionalism' is behind the loss of these discs.

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 12:33 PM

Richard Bridge, I don't drink anything but water and I like it, so I appreciate it when bottled spring water is available.

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 06:51 PM

…… the buck stops at the top. The chief clown, Brown will have to go.

It's Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. The Queen must abdicate.


DC

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 26 Nov 07 - 04:15 AM

Actually, the buck did stop at the top of this particular food chain, and the Chairman resigned on Tuesday. Short of sacking everyone above Admin Assistant level (that's mine, lowest of the low) and their immediate managers, that's about it.

Although, if we were to sack a few managers' managers, that might clear the decks of gits and fools and help us all get on better!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: GUEST,PMB
Date: 26 Nov 07 - 05:22 AM

If anyone from junior assistant level upwards can copy the database, apparently without senior management caring or even noticing, how do we know that other unauthorised copies haven't been made?

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 26 Nov 07 - 06:06 AM

Many years ago, I worked in an office where we

1) Took applications for phone services and sent the details on to the techs to install them

2) Once the service was installed, wrote up the charge authority and sent it to accounts so the money would start rolling in.


It was never possible with sufficient resources, to do ALL of 1) AND 2) in any particular month...


You can see where this is going, can't you? :-)


So every ALTERNATE month, there would be a big panic to do one or the other... which would mean that the OTHER one would be behind...

I'm not making this up you know...

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 26 Nov 07 - 06:47 AM

A bit later, I was in The Supply Branch, where I was put in charge of 'Payment Queries'... I was to be 'punished' for speaking out about the manager trying to avoid following the rules and complained to The Union.... nobody had ever lasted more than a few weeks without walking out of the office, some of them even attempting suicide - I'm not joking.... I was there for over 10 years.... :-) haha hehe, they're coming to take me away... no effect at all on me really...

Well you see, the official 'policy' was that nothing was considered 'overdue' till it was over 90 days - even though some poor sods wanted their money on a 7 day basis.... and would ring up... but 'policy' was that all queries need to quote the 'order number' so I could look it up...

Written enquiries were more fun...

They would send in their statement - usually quoting the order number against their invoice number. BUT, we didn't 'reconcile accounts with suppliers', so if the statement had nothing over 90 days - in the bin it went!

Of course, once it went over 90 days... Now I would receive about 50 NEW files (with just the statement with the number of dollars in the over 90 days area!) a day... oh, not counting existing files with ongoing queries and new statements where the 90 days was also breached - of course any statements in the meantime that showed the required info would have been automatically binned!

SO... I would write a form letter, a whole bloody A4 page long explaining 'policy' - this used to be typed up manually by the typists (only a few days backlog!) - until they got a 'word processing mini' - which meant that the letters only needed the name and address... until they eventually decided that I could write the name and address manually into a 'form letter' and post it that night, and I had usually received 3 phone calls from each company by the time the letter went out... and then they would ring me once they got the letter - I spent a lot of time on the phone, if you hadn't guessed... i would wait for a break when teh phone stopped rnging as soon as i put it down to do a toilet dash for a break - and of course i spent all my time on teh phone, writing notes that I never had the time to work on...

ANYWAY.... the advice of receipt of material would come in, get matched, and then sit in the compactus for nearly 90 days before it was paid...

... and somehow they claimed that I was inefficient, because i couldn't 'clear the desk' - at one time I got tired of just 'resubmitting the files' every few days, so I started to stack them behind me - on the floor. That wasn't acceptable, so they got me a table to keep them off the floor, but they fell off the table, so I got old recycled cardboard boxes to stack them in, then a filing cabinet, then was told to 'get rid of them' so I resubmitted the thousand files.... ahhhhh...

Well, eventually I went and saw in a hotel in town a pollie, - good old Wilson Tucky - who happened to be in town... he promised that 'when we get in Government'... I said, yeah that's nice, but what you COULD do, is to just put out the whisper about what is really happenning why people are not being paid ina reasonable amount of time - that will get the word out... he understood... This was about the time that the US Govt decided that all Govt accounts that were unpaid over 30 days would pay compounding interest...

Eventually I went off sick with an inner ear infection for a month (stess the doctor said!) - when I got back, they had put someone else in, AND they had given him an answering machine... I mentioned to him that it would give him a chance to work on the files in the morning while it took messages... hehehehehe, well it was only a couple of weeks before the switch started to ring everybody else on the floor, because the phone was STILL busy all the time, and he had so many messages that could couldn't deal with them all during that day, etc.... :-)



And you wonder about me... twitch, twitch...

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 26 Nov 07 - 06:59 AM

Oh - forgot to mention the killer punchline - over 99% of all the queries I followed up were actually paid by the time I got around to getting the details...

You see the company 'accountants' would not bother to match up our order number - even though we quoted it on the payment slip, along withe their invoice number, so he would just put the money against ANY 'invoice over 90 days' (even if we actually paid something even under 30 days!), so that the invoice he looked up the order number for was already PAID, so he would then try and find a new number for me, which would ALSO have been paid, und so weiter...

So we would start the whole process detailed above AGAIN... and AGAIN, and AGAIN...


woo woo woo....

And you wonder why I don't WANT to get my phone from Telstra any more...

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 26 Nov 07 - 07:13 AM

I hate you guys, you are giving me flashbacks....


When I finally got transferred to a Computer System job after they realised the manager giving me bad reports was a delusional paranoid schizophrenic under treatment for the last 10 years...

They brought in a new (Bloody Yank designed!) 'brownie points' management system, whereby you showed how efficient you were, and how much work you were doing, and how much you had increased output and all that bullshit...

Anyway, I asked, should I fix the serious computer problems (which would take a long time but only show up as ONE task) causing the many daily crashes which I had to fix instantly as the salesmen desperately need the fix, which would show up as ONE task, but would reduce the total number of tasks, which would show me up brilliantly THIS month, but then, having stopped the lots of little quickly fixed crashes, the next month I would show fewer tasks performed, so I would show up as performing less work, or should I just keep doing the lots of instant fixes which gave me lots of brownie points and thus showed me working harder...


They mostly stopped annoying me after that.... until my redundancy, when they gave my job away to India...

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 26 Nov 07 - 07:20 AM

Oh! - and they said I didn't have to fill in their stupid bloody brownie points system any more, either, which they agreed was designed 'for the sales staff, not support staff'...

I'm NOT making this ANY of THIS up you know, I'm just not that creative...

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 26 Nov 07 - 12:18 PM

PMB - that's the whole point. The "lowly clerk" in question could not have been given access to such an amount of data UNLESS a manager or higher up had given the permissions to do so. He would have been given the disk by a manager and asked to post it in the internal mail system.

Each level in each department is basically given access only to the information they need to do their particular job. I can change addresses, names, agents, log and capture returns and issue a particular form, but I can not change accounting periods, issue payments, change agent details, open or close an enquiry, make a company dormant or approve striking off.

Although I work for one huge company, I cannot access any information about individual people, only companies. I cannot copy anything at all to disk or USB, I can only print out the pages I can access or view on screen. I can't access any information held by the Intelligence section, by Customs, by the Self Assessment or Pay As You Earn departments... in short, if it isn't my job, I can't get to it.

This disk would have been requested from and copied by a manager of a particular grade. They should then have requested secure transport to the requesting office. The whole disk was copied because it was not cost effective to run a selection process and the internal mail system was used because it's too expensive to use a secure courier. The whole thing boils down to penny pinching, corner cutting and NoMyJ-ing (NOt MY Job).

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Nov 07 - 01:48 PM

A guy on our street brought home his Federal laptop with all our US veteran SS numbers and accounts and had it sttolen from his home.

That made it all the way to CNN headlines.
It was later returned during an amnesty request all the way over in Virginia.

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 26 Nov 07 - 06:34 PM

Actually, the buck did stop at the top of this particular food chain, and the Chairman resigned on Tuesday.

I still think the Queen should abdicate.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work
Date: 27 Nov 07 - 05:32 AM

So do I but that's a different issue altogether!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Nov 07 - 04:54 PM

Isn't there a royal back up disk?

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 27 Nov 07 - 05:20 PM

Charlie.

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 27 Nov 07 - 05:26 PM

No, Charlie's the original - Wills is now the backup.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Lost data UK Government
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 27 Nov 07 - 05:40 PM

Charlie & Wills, wasn't that a US TV Cop Show?