Do you trust your government with your data?

 We’re off air now, but you can podcast the programme here. 

Hello, it’s Leonardo here, editing the programme today.

DO YOU TRUST YOUR GOVERNMENT WITH YOUR DATA?
It’s the main talking point in Britain today: in Parliament, in the streets, in the pubs. Two discs with personal information — addresses, bank details, names etc. — about some 25 million people in the UK have gone missing from government offices. Or have been stolen, no one knows.

It contained information about virtually every family in the country with children aged under 16. That includes the Prime Minister himself, Gordon Brown, who was forced to apologize to in Parliament today.

The CDs had information on all the families who receive child benefits. They were sent on ordinary post from the Department of Revenue and Customs to an auditor, but never reached the destination.

The data of millions of people can now be stored in two small discs and lost in the post.

Do you trust anyone with your data, especially your government? Have you been a victim of data theft? Is that something that concerns you, or just an one-off incident that wouldn’t happen if normal procedures had been followed?

Goodmorning…

 As the US reveals Annapolis in Washington as the venue for the next peace conference, writer,  Seth Freedman who was ready to to play his part by signing up to the Israeli Defence Force says, “Occupation Breeds Terror and Israel must leave the territories and must do so soon”.   Is this the only and best solution in the middle east? 

Up to a thousand displaced Iraqis are returning home  (from mainly Syria) to Iraq each day.  This indicates that things are getting better.   Does this mean the Bush administration was right to invade Iraq after all?

Should we feel resentful about caring for our elderly parents? An article here in the UK has sparked a debate about caring for parents when they get old.   A very frank statement was made by a writer saying, “I resent her (her parent) for still being alive.”   Should children have an absolute duty to care for their parents?  Can children ever justify this resentment?