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28 Jan 2008

HMRC’s two-tier privacy system

If government didn’t see the importance of protecting people’s personal data, you could call it stupid. But they’re not stupid at all - they’re very clever.  Just as yes Minister spelt out over and over again 20 years ago, they’re very clever indeed, and more amoral and cynical than one would believe possible.

That’s the conclusion I take from the revelation that, as The Times put it,

HM Revenue and Customs has set up a secret “two tier” security system for online tax records giving extra protection to a small group of MPs, royals and other VIPs...the HMRC admitted that 29m ordinary taxpayers did not benefit from the same high levels of protection as MPs and other members of a small elite.

It’s not that they don’t understand that protecting people’s data is important. They just don’t care much about hoi polloi, as long as we’re productive economic units and pay our taxes. More anon. 

• Posted by William Heath on 28/01/08 at 1:51pm
• Categories · "What do we want?" · Foundation of Trust · Data nitwittery
• Comments (6)  Permalink

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