After our Charlie received a letter yesterday about personal data relating to him being stolen I was going to write about it, but the Guardian beat me to it. Not that they mentioned Chas of course, and unlike most recent stories of similar losses the story was tucked away on page 7. It was probably hidden away even further in the Daily Mail, if it was mentioned at all.
The difference between this and other examples of personal data going astray is that it was not a government or MoD computer that went missing: it was one belonging to the Daily Mail’s parent company. The letter, from Northcliffe Media, advises contacting your bank as a matter of course, and gives a link to a government website about identity theft but playsdownthe risk, saying:
The likelihood is that this theft was carried out in an opportunistic manner by a thief who will not realise that there is any personal data on the laptop and who may just erase what is on the hard disk in order to disguise the fact that the laptop is stolen.
I’m sure that is true, and that is probably the case in many – or maybe or most or all – of the other cases. In those cases the Mail managed to point the finger squarely at senior management (i.e. the government) but I don’t see them doing the same this time.
Reading the story it would be tempting to feel amused thinking that Daily Mail reporters are getting some sort of comeuppance – but you have to realise that when the Guardian refers to those affected being “journalists and other freelancers employed by Associated” this includes all the kids (and adults) who deliver the Crawley News each week, or have done in the past. Chas hasn’t delivered the News for a long time now. I guess he stopped at least six months ago. Why were his details still on file? How many others in Crawley got the same letter? Will the Crawley News mention it at all this week?
Will the Mail Readers of Maidenbower make mention? Well maybe they will as it is so anti-Crawley News. It used to be quite pro when it was critising the Labour run council. Now it runs stories against the present Tory administration it is the Devils’ Own.
When these laptops and discs go missing I find it odd that the politicians are always blamed when they are often left behind by civil servants (who, I would assume are largely Daily Mail reading tories…..). That aside, I hope Chas hasn’t been badly affected by this. My bank details were used fraudulently a couple of months age – damn Cotton Traders… – and they did manage to get a couple of music downloads at my expense but the bank drew the line at £1.5k of electrical equipment. Mostly because I only had about £30 in the account so if Charlie is a bit broke then, hopefully, he’s okay?
I think it is safe to say that his level of exposure is minimal, but he keeps an eye on his balance anyway.
His mother didn’t raise no fools….