...for losing "an estimated 100,000 unencrypted customer records" is to be told not to do it again?

WTF do you have to lose before you get prosecuted?

What about the .GOV?

HMRC

losing the data. Why dont they get a roasting like this?

Flaming democracy at work!

What actually happened:

Data protection people: Hi, you broke the law. Please can you tell us you won't do it again?

Amicus Legal: Sure, we'll tell you that.

Everyone else: Right, we can totally ignore the data protection act. If we lose some data then we'll try to keep it quiet; if that fails then we might have to start following the law.

What should have happened:

Data protection people: Hi, you broke the law. Please pay £x00,000 fines, £x00,000 compensation, and we're going to criminally prosecute a couple of your directors.

Everyone else: Oh, we better start complying with the law.

And government want us to have ID Cards!

The former Data Commissioner who warned us about "Sleepwalikg into a surveillance society" today stated there had been at least 200 breaches of data, some serious, since the last review.

There's only one way to solve this ... open prosecution and massive fines for breaches. Hit companies and personnel in their pockets and in the courts.

And government want us to have ID Cards! Are we mad?

Maybe there should be a massive fine for breaches like this. How about it being a fixed rate with an escalator for subsequent offenses from the same organisation? I would suggest that it works on the number of records, so £100 per record for the first offense. £200 per record for the second offense --- £300 for the third and so on.

Then there is the compensation for the victims of the transgression. Let's say £10,000 each for the first offense --- £20,000 each for the second --- £30,000 for the third and so on.

Of course, to escape other than the first one they would work out something like a 'hive down' so that it is a 'new' organisation. Okay, ANY company which employs a director of a previous offending company will automatically carry the number of previous offenses by any and all comapnies in which any of its directors were employed.

So director one comes from a two time offender and director two comes from a one time offender. That gives you THREE on the card to start with so YOUR first offense will be a FOUR TIMES PAYOUT !!

You want your laws to work, then you need to make them work.

Oh....I almost forgot....what about the employee who was stupid and careless enough to lose the stuff? Automatic dismissal (as a legal requirement) and add a code to his/her NI number making it ILLEGAL to employ (£1,000,000 fine for any breach) them anywhere remotely near sensitive data --- for life !