Thursday, May 22, 2008

Tory data cock-up/loss

Just a quick post regarding the news that the Tories in Crewe managed to send 8000 voter records - presumably canvassing forms as voting intention has been reported to have been included - 'by mistake' to a Radio station in the Isle of Man.

Whoever did it is a moron. I can't really say it fairer than that. Slaps all round should be forthcoming from the Information Commissioner. Cock-up, or conspiracy, sending the things was moronic, and the person that did it was a moron. No ifs. No buts.

9 comments:

John Pickworth said...

Ooops.

In fairness though, we all know how easy it is to attach the wrong file to an email... but you're correct, its still moronic.

The good news is that the recipient & Radio Station have given solemn undertakings that the data has been destroyed.

Anonymous said...

The only thing that I will say is that the Tories stuck their hands up and said "fair cop guv".

If they can perform urgent damage limitation the the political fallout will be minimal.

Anonymous said...

Agreed on the moron thing.

Even so, given the number of bodies involved in the campaign, it's probably a tribute to Eric Pickles and the management that this was the only major cock-up.

dreamingspire said...

It should have been encrypted (then of course the password would have been sent in the email).

Caroline Hunt said...

The question really has to be why on earth would anyone send anything to the isle of man? Other than their worst enemy that is.

Anonymous said...

Dear Haroline,
you sound just like The Guardian...

Anonymous said...

The person responsible can only be the Crewe Constituency Chairman (who is also the Area Chairman)one D Potter. The blame may be an employee of the Association or indeed an employee of another Association or the party but according to the PPERA, D Potter is the designated officer for Crewe and Nantwich Conservatives. He should consider his positions in the Party

dreamingspire said...

It was probably a case of selecting the wrong email address (or rather a case of not selecting the right one - been there, done that in Thunderbird).

Anonymous said...

The info was encrypted and the information itself was not extremely sensitive - nothing that would allow identity theft.

Im not saying its not a cock up but at least the damage itself was minimal