Toxic leak

Fantastic bandit cat courtesy of Kim Cameron, who also has trenchant comment on what he calls the HMRC’s Identity Chernobyl:

Meanwhile, in parliament, Prime Minister Gordon Brown explained that security measures had been breached when the information was downloaded and sent by courier to the National Audit Office, although there had been no “systemic failure”.

This is really the crux of the matter. Because, from a technology point of view, the failure was systemic.

…Isn’t it incredible that “a junior official” could simply “download” detailed personal and financial information on 25 million people? Why would a system be designed this way?

To me this is the equivalent of assembling a vast pile of dynamite in the middle of a city on the assumption that excellent procedures would therefore be put in place, so no one would ever set it off.