I think El Reg should create a new icon/acronym along the lines of WSA or RotM whenever a .gov department loses more data.

We are f*cked anyway with this lot running our data security so we may as well have some fun with it.

Hardly surprising to me, they managed to send both mine and my fiancé's driving licences to the wrong address when we moved house. Despite having all our correct information which we confirmed over the phone whilst trying to discover what happened. We assumed the couldn't have cocked up too badly and it was probably only a few doors or streets away so we asked for the address where they HAD sent them. They refused point blank, we were basically told not to worry about it as our photographic ID with lots of personal information on it could not be used in fraud as it would have the wrong issue number on it. O I felt so secure after that.

Our data is valuable thats why *everyone* wants it, yet whenever it is lost we are told not to worry as it's worthless.

The Difference between the DVLA and HMRC

DVLA help line = 0800

HMRC = 0845 Thus making profit from cock up

I wonder how much HMRC is making from the help line?

"The DVLA blamed human error rather than lackadaisical attitudes to data security "

If you rely on people to put letters in envelopes, you almost certainly WILL get some of them in the wrong envelopes.

Elementary common sense says you sidestep the problem by printing the address and information on only ONE piece of paper, and then use a common or garden window envelope to post it.

I'd say that failure to use elementary common sense *WAS* effectively a "lackadaisical attitude".

Have they not heard of windowed envelopes?

If you are sending exactly the same thing to people then sure, stick a label on the envelope. If you are sending out personalised letters, then use and windowed envelope, then you can't get them mixed up!

wow I wonder how we have been making money from our cbm.biz 0845 dial up internet!

It is true in some cases that you have to buy an 0845 but you dont (or shouldn't) pay for the calls you recieve.

And you can in certain circumstances even make money off them. (as we do for our dial up service)

I suppose that if they are giving it away then at least they are less likely to be able to sell it!

I never knew that the Humans that work for our noble/trustworthy government ever made errors!

What was that? You say that when you get Biometrics and ID Cards the Humans will never make any mistakes again! Oh, alright then...

I choose Paris Hilton cos even she wouldn't sanction a cock-up like the government wants.

The same DVLA that:

1. Tried to claim that they were legally entitled to dvla.com & got slapped on the wrist by WIPO?

http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2002/d2002-0913.html

2. Have or had a policy of tranferring callers to an automated message when they used keywords such as "tax" despite the caller having listened to the message several times already & being quite sure that the information provided was of no use.

3. Issued forms telling the owners of vehicles that they could renew their tax online by using the special number in the yellow box....except that they didn't print anything in the yellow boxes. In fact the number was no-where to be seen so back to the post office everyone went.

4. That would happily give you all the details of the owner of a vehicle. Cost £2 if you want it immediately, nothing if you are happy to wait up to 2 weeks.

5. Happily re-registered cars to new names & addresses if anyone asked without waiting for confirmation from the listed keeper. Result:

- Find person going on holiday for 2 weeks.

- Tell DVLA the car is now yours.

- Wait for new documents to arrive.

- Inform police you are retrieving your goods from the previous owners garage. Produce DVLA paperwork to prove ownership.

- Profit!

Good old British-government run monopolies eh?!!

On a side note, given the police can drive around & have their cars tell them if a driver is untaxed/uninsured/mot'd etc, why do we have to produce all these documents when we re-tax?

Well I asked someone in the Post Office.

It is because the individual post offices don't want to pay for broadband apparently...!

Your article says that DVLA is apologising to the recipients of the survey - and the envelopes were addressed correctly.

It seems to me that the people who might be damaged were the ones whose full details (including driving offenses) had been sent to someone else !

Was this a question of people with driving offenses being invited to participate in a survey? i.e. if *you* received a letter with someone else's details, you can be sure that *your* details have been sent to someone else with driving offenses (or whatever the selection criteria were), or were the letters inside the envelopes generated randomly - so anyone's details might have been given away?

I suppose it is safe to assume that there is no record of which letter went into which envelope? ;-<

I suppose the real question is how - and whether - the DVLA is planning to tag the leaked records to detect misuse?