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THE UK CABINET Office has been criticised for a “farcical and inexcusable mistake” after the home addresses of celebrities, military figures and elderly people named in the New Year Honours list were inadvertently posted online.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is investigating the alleged data breach after details relating to the vast majority of the 1,097 recipients could be viewed online from 11pm on Friday, shortly after news of their honours went public.
The details were removed around an hour after the accidental disclosure.
The Cabinet Office apologised, said it was contacting those affected, and had referred itself to the regulator.
Silkie Carlo, director of privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch, said: “It’s extremely worrying to see that the Government doesn’t have a basic grip on data protection, and that people receiving some of the highest honours have been put at risk because of this.
It’s a farcical and inexcusable mistake, especially given the new Data Protection Act passed by the Government last year – it clearly can’t stick by its rules.
The list saw awards given to members of England’s World Cup winning cricket team, performers such as Sir Elton John and Grease star Olivia Newton-John, as well as former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith.
Alison Saunders, the former director of public prosecutions, was also among the honours recipients, alongside 94-year-old D-Day veteran Harry Billinge, and 13-year-old schoolboy Ibrahim Yousaf.
The list also included senior diplomats, counter-terror police and figures from the military.
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “A version of the New Year Honours 2020 list was published in error which contained recipients’ addresses.
“The information was removed as soon as possible.
“We apologise to all those affected and are looking into how this happened.
We have reported the matter to the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) and are contacting all those affected directly.
Only six people honoured for services to defence were left off the list, according to the BBC.
The ICO, which has the power to fine organisations for data breaches, said it was investigating.
The introduction of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules in May 2018 increased the penalties regulators such as the ICO are able to introduce.
It means breaches can result in the ICO issuing penalties equivalent of up to 4% of annual global turnover or the equivalent of almost €20 million – whichever is greater.
Previously, the largest penalty the ICO meted out was to Facebook when it was fined £500,000 (€585,250) – the maximum allowed at the time – for failing to protect users’ personal data.
But in July, the ICO announced its intention to fine British Airways £183 million (€214m) for its own data breach, which will become the largest penalty ever issued by the regulator once the process is completed.
The ICO later handed out an intention to fine the hotel chain Marriott International £99 million (€115m) after it admitted the guest records of around 339 million people had been accessed.
Hackney councillor and charity pioneer Mete Coban, who was handed an MBE for services to young people, told the PA news agency: “If those responsible have apologised and it is a genuine error, then there is not much more that can be done.
I understand why others are concerned, but most of my details are online because of the council work anyway.
It is not ideal, but what is done is done.
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Makes me realise how lucky we really are despite everything.
Oh ye! Being rules by morons is far easier than any of that! At least the morons who govern us just take our money!
Ur an awful bollox…
Why? Being ruled by idiots is heaven compared to any of that. Is it not?
Jesus, some of these pictures are harrowing and the stories behind them, even worse! It really makes you think about our own, ‘first world’ problems…
Puts things into context compared to the whining gimp patrol on here moaning that they cant afford skinny lattes and holidays because of the mortgage on their massive house
Thatcher was a great friend of Augusto Pinochet during and after his brutal reign. At the same time she was denouncing Nelson Mandela as a terrorist
I teach history and when it comes to the holocaust or the famine the kids always ask, how did people let that happen? Whats crazy is that we are still letting it happen!
You only have to look at the treatment of travellers to realise ‘hate’ is alive and well in Ireland.
Yeah it’s so shocking and depressing to see what people do to each other. Governments dont give a toss unless it’s worth something to them. Thousands being killed in Syria and all they’re doing is political posturing.
Those pictures of the North Korean kids goes to show the world what a “Socialist Paradise” really looks like.
And now the madness of NK has declared war on S Korea. Utter madness. What is going on within their heads?
As for the morons that say we are having it bad. Move to North Korea please.
I think your the only person describes it as a socialist paradise
Daniel I was being sarcastic using the usual leftie description of a socialist country.
My family affected in 2004 tsunami…still hav nightmares.
Nobody should be afraid to give to charity or to fill their Trocaire box….
There is always someone always worse off than us…
Not a cent would I give to Trocaire… I dont really care about the third world
Thousands of people were killed or ‘disappeared’ during the regime led by General Augusto Pinochet until 1988….
Two point nine thousand to be precise in 8 years. An hours work for Chairman Mao or Comrade Tito, both still very much beloved………
Seriously, it’s an insult to include Pinochet and not include the Balkans war. Pinochet’s only sin was to align his economic policy with the liberal Chicago school and produce a relative success of a country (in contrast to an array of Latin American lefties who screwed up their countries). On the other hand, the massacre in Srebrenica for example (for which the armed ‘forces’ of an EU country take the blame) resulted in three times more dead in only half a day. Your criteria, dear Journal, is rid of logic.
Chile was the world’s biggest producer of tin but it was being exported to America, especially to the Coca-Cola Co., for extremely low prices. When Allende came to power he wanted to nationalise the industry. This would have cost Coca-Cola millions as the tin for their cans and bottle tops all came from Chile. They put pressure on Henry Kissinger to do something about this. He in turn tasked the CIA to overthrow the government and replace it with one favourable to America’s needs. That’s where Pinochet came in. Thousands were murdered just so he could line his pockets, and America, a country that prides itself for its democracy, destroyed this fledgling democracy for purely monetary reasons. Pinochet didn’t create the Chilean economy. In fact, he set it back years.
Ah yes, the nationalization of various industries would have been another Latin American socialist success just like that of Argentina where Peron’s (national)socialists policies brought the country to a permanent state of disrepair. Argentina is a unique case in the economic history insofar that it was the only country in the World that managed to drop off the top-20 richest countries list (it was replaced by Japan) in the past 100 years. Even the BBC had this to say about Chile:
“The economy of Chile is ranked as an upper-middle income economy by the World Bank,[9] and is one of South America’s most stable and prosperous nations”
If it was down to Allende’s chest-thumping, this would have ended in IMF bail-outs and plundering of pension funds just like it did in Argentina (presumably also the fault of those goddamn Americans).
Bleeding-heart students don’t mind wearing badges with romantic images of that serial murderer CheGuevara for the same reason. So much about principles. Leftists generally like guys in uniforms who murder opposition and rule by decree but only if they align with socialist policies. Pinochet could have had his restaurants in Dublin like Mao only if he had read Marx a bit more and did not use leftist methods to deal with leftist thugs.
The story of Allende and Chile is what cemented me as a socialist. The likely election of a left govt in Greece, Syriza next time around could see a IMF/EU technocratic coup to ensure the austerity agenda is not interrupted in Europe. It’s very scary considering the openly fascist right wing that already has support in Greece.
You could have looked closer to home at Russia and Eastern Europe for how this whole socialism thing works out.
Look even closer to home, maybe the q for food parcels at the cappuchin friary to see how capitalism has worked out….
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