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What are the Yanks doing with our driver details?

Comment Damn foreigners
Tuesday, 18 December 2007, 10:44

THE NEWS that a private US firm lost the records of more than three million British driving test applicants, including their names, home addresses, email addresses and telephone numbers comes as little surprise.

Compared to the loss of 25 million child benefit records by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs earlier this year, including millions of bank account details, the loss of a few names and addresses is pretty small beer.

The disc of the three million driving test applicants details was apparently lost from a "secure store" in Iowa run by US firm Pearson Driving Assessments.

Most Brits, of course, have no idea where Iowa is and why should they care? But the question remains: what the bleeding nora was the Driving Standards Agency using an Iowa-based company for? Is there no British company that could do whatever it is this bunch of yank chancers was supposed to be doing?

Civil servants can't guarantee the security of OUR data in this country, and here they are doling it out willy-nilly to shifty, untrustworthy foreigners.

Heads should roll. OUR data should stay in the UK, Its management should not be outsourced all over the planet to save a few pence.

While we're at it, it seems Chance(llo)r Alistair Darling admitted that a letter from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs apologising to families whose child benefit data had been lost had itself contained too much personal information, some of which could have gone astray.

Shall I write that again? It does take a while to sink in. After losing the details of 25 million Brits, doughnut government officials sent out a letter to apologise and the letter itself contained unnecessary data that could itself potentially be compromised and compromising.

Darling, you shurely must go. Now. Begone. ยต

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Comments
Labour

The whole party should go, how many more screw ups are this government going to make ?
If we allow these scumbags to be re elected it sends the message they can do what the hell they want and the general populous is to stupid to care.

posted by : Burt, 18 December 2007 Complain about this comment
Never As It Seems

Pearson Driving Assessments (READ: Pearson VUE) is a wholy owned subsidiary of Pearson Group, the very same people that print the Financial Times. They are NOT a private company.

But it is not that difficult to see why the tests were sent to the US to be graded. British people are such abhorrent drivers, geeez they drive on the wrong side of the road!

Who better here in the states to grade the tests than a bunch of down-and-out yahoos Pearson pays $1/hour.

America is the new sweat shop of the world it would seem.

posted by : Scott, 18 December 2007 Complain about this comment
Funny

..how there have been several of these all come at once. It's like they're trying to distract us from something else. I dread to think what that could be.

posted by : Wilkior, 18 December 2007 Complain about this comment
Pot, Kettle, Black?

We didn't start the fire. Pearson Driving Assessments is really Pearson VUE, a wholy owned sub of Pearson PLC. (Have you ever read the Financial Times??)

The US Goverment is perfectly capable of stupidity on this level all by itself, don't start blaming all of your cockups on us! We have enough useless government cogs ourselves. And I'll even bet money the majority of them couldn't even pick Britian out on a map. So there!

posted by : Charlie, 18 December 2007 Complain about this comment
Sorry but

I don't understand why they need this data at all, or even why it needs outsourcing. My recent driving theory took place in Cambridge. I answered 30 questions then took a brief perception test on a PC. The results were printed out to me immediately and my certificate awarded (35 out of 35!). 

Next my practical test was taken at a Cambridge test centre with a buy wearing a high visibility jacket and voice like Eeeeawww. He gave me my result immediately (pass, 5 minor!).

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but at no stage did anyone need to send my exam answers or driving practical results to Iowa. 

So to flesh out the article a little, please explain exactly wtf they need them for.

posted by : Robinson, 18 December 2007 Complain about this comment
No Place to Go

That takes away let another country that speaks my language to stupidity. Is there any English-speaking country to turn to outside of the US if there becomes a means to leave?

posted by : Kevin "Saturn", 18 December 2007 Complain about this comment
Hmm

I cannot understand the people who complain about the data being in US. 
We live in world that data has no country and can be transfered on the other side of the planet before you say "blimey" .
So we worry about the data you can find in a phone catalogue yes? 

What about then all your bank transactions (credit cards, whole financial history incl mortages, loans etc) since you had your first account? 

They have being distributed to US (and EU constantly) for security purpose when you are willing to fly above US sovereign (not landing and doesn't include US soil only). 
Do you think your bank has stored the data localy? ofc not. They are in servers anywhere in the world moving around all the time. 

And ff you just wake up
WELCOME TO THE INFORMATION AGE

posted by : Panos, 18 December 2007 Complain about this comment
More bits spilled by brits

Ah, well, UK Labour, US Democrats, they're all the same. Frustrated western Bolsheviks, all hankering for a chance to repeat the Soviet experience (particularly the part where it all falls apart due to institutionalised supidity).

And it doesn't matter if you replace the elected officials, as the governments are all run by the [un]civil "servants".

Time for another Revolution?

posted by : Rich Wargo, 18 December 2007 Complain about this comment
Really...

I have an idea: Make fun of Americans when your information is lost and try to say that the storage for such information should be in the UK instead of saying that the dumbass Brits put it in America to begin with. You trust us to give you $50 Billion of goods and gold each year. So take the "damn foreigner" talk and shove it up your "bloody" ass.

posted by : Charlie, 18 December 2007 Complain about this comment
Listen Up!

Look - the United States has had a long and distinguished record of losing personal data. Before this year the only lost data I've heard about from the British is some hippy kids traveler's cheques in India.

It's not so hard to see why they would choose the US for this task. We can be trusted to "lose" anything and everything important. We are the United States; We are #1...

posted by : Dan Asti, 18 December 2007 Complain about this comment
Ahhh...

Tony Blair doesn't look so bad anymore, eh?

posted by : DEVGRU, 18 December 2007 Complain about this comment
Get Organised?

Most readers will chalk this up to Government stupidity and walk away. This leaves the Government free to throw our bank details around the world into the hands of identity thieves, squandering taxpayer's money all the while.

Making small, regular donations of money or time to campaigns like NO2ID are our best hope for seeing actual, institutional changes in the system which might prevent this catalogue of incompetence in future.

posted by : Dave Page, 18 December 2007 Complain about this comment
outsourcing

One commentator apparently from this side of the pond is still spotting pinkos under his bed (probably should look on his pillow), this was a case of outsourcing to a US firm. 

The good news is we speak a version of English generally recognizable to the folks in charge of the contract. Whether any of the info. will be leaked? Naw, never! I'm shocked, shocked I say!

posted by : Curtis W. Rendon, 18 December 2007 Complain about this comment
Why blame the MP's ?

These fools are only there temporarily, they have no real say in how the system works - they're not there long enough. The whole civil service does the actual running. The MP's are their sacrifices yo us and the rest of the world. The civil service can blame them for everything while they carry on - business as usual.

posted by : Jon, 18 December 2007 Complain about this comment
LOL

I knew it was only a matter of time before the EU would start outsourcing to the US. Cheaper dollar and all that jazz. I'm sure it was in the plan the whole time.

posted by : Trailmixxx, 18 December 2007 Complain about this comment
..it's the world we live in..

..I see no good in blaming nationalities when most people's - we with no real power - intentions are good and then our trust is betrayed for economic reasons by whomever.. As an Australian, I often 'spew' about the fact all our IT is out-sourced to 'overseas' based facilities(with people who cannot even speak Aussie, which is different to normal English :)) - but then we sell massive amounts of raw materials to China and then buy back value-added goods made with said materials @ 1000x the price...it's the world we live in, 'globalisation' our pollies call it...another point is if you have an Amex, Mastercard, Visa etc, you have willingly given info that ends up in the US on some server, which can also be 'lost'...whom do we blame then?
As said, 'it's the world we live in'....

posted by : ivansoze, 19 December 2007 Complain about this comment
..not these days...

'Ah, well, UK Labour, US Democrats, they're all the same. Frustrated western Bolsheviks, all hankering for a chance to repeat the Soviet experience (particularly the part where it all falls apart due to institutionalised supidity).

And it doesn't matter if you replace the elected officials, as the governments are all run by the [un]civil "servants".

Time for another Revolution?'

lol, this sounds like something I would have said myself, when I was in my 20's.(40+ now).these days, I just think it:)...yes, it's all about money now.... 'as some past US prez said: It's the economy SHTOOPID!!'

posted by : ivansoze, 19 December 2007 Complain about this comment
AAARGH!!!

why is the american way considered a solution whenever a problem is posed in the UK?

Isnt it obvious america is a messed up country based on profit$ with a messed up political leadership system?

our only hope is to merge with europe then at least we have a chance of breaking away and saving our fading identity....

posted by : mr despondent, 19 December 2007 Complain about this comment
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