Petition protesting the ContactPoint database is here

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Databases/

Trust the state with personal details of every child in the country? eek!

emma, London, UK,

I would quite like to know how it is possible to lose anything in the post anyway. How does it happen when there is a destination written on it that could never be mistaken for another?

Anon, Edinburgh,

We are all, correctly, complaining about the way the government fails to protect our personal details.
I just wonder how may home computer users are equally lax. I have friends who keep all their financial dealings etc on home computers without even basic password protection. Apart from the possibility of hackers whilst on line, none seems to have considered the possibility that the computer might fail and need to be sent away for repair before data could be removed from the hard drive.
A semi-retired accountant friend kept a considerable amount of confidential data on his computer, and when it failed had to pay very highly for an expert to repair the computer at home in order that he could watch and ensure the data was not examined or copied. He now uses an program which keeps all the data fully encrypted when not actually in use and I advise all my friends to do the same - there is at least one very good program available free of charge and it is well worth the effort.

Brian E, London, England

you should immediately request that all of your personal data is removed from all and any HMRC computer databases and detabases that could be connected or "contaminated"

and that you will (subsequently and in my own time) apply to each and every bank for replacement account nos.

REMEMBER IT IS YOU THAT ARE AT RISK UNTIL YOUR ACCOUNT IS SECURED and as the Banks losses could be substantial they will endeavour to recover any losses from customers.

paul wilcox, newbury, berkshire

Will you trust this goverment to securely look after your medical record when it is uploaded (without your explicit and informed consent) to a central computer?

John Priestman, Huddersfield, England

Speaking of money, aren't you supposed to pay tax on gifts or money you give to people?

Why then has this guy who gave money to 2 people who donated it to labour not paid tax?

This is strange?

Gary O'Neil, London,

Does anyone else think it's strange that a junior clerk could download this amount of highly confidential data without some sort of internal control preventing it?

What other data could have been downloaded onto a memory stick and walked out the building - and then sold on? Would anyone even know it was missing?

Rob, Birmingham, UK

After this farce, I cannot imagine anyone in their right mind providing identity card information but how can it be a case of 'go to jail, go directly to jail' when Macavity has not built the prisons to hold us all?

C Smith, Chester,

HMRC must be in the dark ages. The post should never have been used. Encryption over an intranet would have been quick & cheap. Or getting a database to offer out only the non contentious fields or is their database useless? And access to the database ought to be controlled by someone senior. This is root & branch failure, not the error of some poor clerk!!

Keith, Hastings, UK

To Jenny in Petersfield Hampshire

Sorry to be crude, but I have a feeling your letter will fall on deaf ears and achieve nothing.

Imaad, Bradford, West Yorkshire

We are just as at risk from our own government than we are from foreign terrors, it seems.

Justin, Nr. Lincoln, UK

I once sent something by the courier company, TNT. Not only did they lose my stuff, they were absolutely horrible when I contacted them and asked what they were going to do about it. I don't recall ever being treated with such rudeness as by the MD of TNT. Go figure.

Judith G, Aspet,

Yes, role on identity cards, n.h.s. computerisation and the ultimate destruction of the citizens right to a private life. Gordo wants your money to waste, now he wants to know what you had for dinner last night. And if you object he'l probably hold you for 56 days (or ninety days) without charge as a suspected terrorist.

Diddly Do, Liverpool,

Does registered/recorded/tracked delivery actually guarantee that the item will not go astray. Does it not simply prove in whose hands the item was if it does go astray?

Tony Knight, Durham,

I am surprised that in comments about this fiasco people say that if only the discs had been sent by "Registered Mail" then there would not have been a problem. As far as I can see from the Royal Mail web site the there is no such thing as Registered Mail, only Recorded Signed For. This doesn't give you any additional security except a signature if it happens to be delivered. If it isn't delivered then you get the cost of your stamps back (been there, done that). Not much help!

Jon, St Albans, Herts

I would question the justification of sending personal data to public sector organisations at all. If these organisations require such information thay should ask me for it, not the government.

In any case, as the databases are outsourced there is no such thing as security so many 'unvetted' personel will have access to them. And it may be worth asking who has access to disaster recovery and routine backup copies.

Mike Poulsen, Reading, Berkshire

We will be writing to any government agency and private company that holds our personal details, asking for an epxlanation of their security policies when dealing with our confidential data.

My son's passport was recently posted back by ordinary second class mail from the Student Support Department of our local council. We were surprised it was not registered delivery: now we suspect that cutting down on mail costs is government policy, and hence a systemic carelessness.

Jenny , Petersfield Hampshire,

I cannot understand Britain's reluctance to use the computer to transfer information. In our country I can use the internet for the bank to check my account. Afteralll you transfer money by internet so I don't understand why not government information to another department. Very strange.

Renate Baramy, Ramat Hasaron, Israel

Is all this a kind of 'trial run' for a new form of internal terrorism?

jill piercey, flackwell heath,

I do hope this junior official gets all the protection and help he needs - considering what happened to Dr Kelly...

cww, suffolk,