Oh dear, looks like the communications giant T-Mobile has been a bit too communicative. Today it emerged that staff at T-Mobile have passed data from thousands of it's customers too 3rd party brokers without prior permission, as reported by the BBC.
We can expect several things: One, the Ministry of Justice will get it's teeth into this. Two, some staff of T-Mobile will be charged under the Data Protection Act. Three, the government will get all hot-and-bothered about this and maybe try and react with some extra protections in law.
Will customers get compensation - who knows? One thing for sure is that this is not going to be the last time we see Joe Public's private data up for sale.
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
It's my seat - now go away!
The other week I had to visit my company's London office which isn't too much of a big deal - it means taking a train up to Victoria. However, currently I'm suffering from a slipped disc in my neck and it's got to the point where it's been pressing on my spine which causes me to get quite wobbly on my feet. Lately I've been using a walking stick to keep my steady as I've fallen over a few times now.
So there I was one late Thursday evening trying to find a seat, hobbling down the carriages with a walking stick. My first surprise was that nobody in 8 carriages was willing to give up a seat, especially the seats which are ear-marked for elderly or disabled people. My second surprise was people tutted when I tried to squeeze down the carriage with a walking stick because I was inconveniencing them. Ho hum. Glad I wasn't in a wheel chair...
So there I was one late Thursday evening trying to find a seat, hobbling down the carriages with a walking stick. My first surprise was that nobody in 8 carriages was willing to give up a seat, especially the seats which are ear-marked for elderly or disabled people. My second surprise was people tutted when I tried to squeeze down the carriage with a walking stick because I was inconveniencing them. Ho hum. Glad I wasn't in a wheel chair...
Who'd want to be a student?
According to the BBC, 132,000 students have yet to receive their first student loan payments this academic year, and it's almost the middle of November.
OK, so there has been a bigger intake of students this year because of a recession, but the delay of payments to students who have minimal income is inexcusable. It does not take much foresight to see that a recession means that more young people head to higher education rather than sitting on the dole queue - but the managers running the student loads failed to see this. So who is in charge?
Well, the Government isn't, that's for sure. Lord Mandelson told the Lords that "there is no excuse for the service which the company has provided." The fact that he condemns their failure is ironic - is the Government is control? - obviously not. Oh, and by the way, the Governments solution to this crisis is to hire experts to lead a review. So don't expect a solution before 2010...
So what is learnt from this disaster? Well, students will learn that a Labour government is rubbish with finances and is incapable of sorting out any problem in an efficient and prompt way. But we all knew that anyway...
OK, so there has been a bigger intake of students this year because of a recession, but the delay of payments to students who have minimal income is inexcusable. It does not take much foresight to see that a recession means that more young people head to higher education rather than sitting on the dole queue - but the managers running the student loads failed to see this. So who is in charge?
Well, the Government isn't, that's for sure. Lord Mandelson told the Lords that "there is no excuse for the service which the company has provided." The fact that he condemns their failure is ironic - is the Government is control? - obviously not. Oh, and by the way, the Governments solution to this crisis is to hire experts to lead a review. So don't expect a solution before 2010...
So what is learnt from this disaster? Well, students will learn that a Labour government is rubbish with finances and is incapable of sorting out any problem in an efficient and prompt way. But we all knew that anyway...
Sunday, 8 November 2009
My Pear Shaped World
The World has gone pear shaped, more so lately than anytime, hence I'm going to blog about it. Over the past few years I've got increasingly fed up with plain stupid people and organisations causing untold misery and havoc with fundamentally flawed ideas.
To exorcise the rantings from my aching soul I've decided to off load these petty annoyances into a blog. My hope is that others will feel free to chip in and help me document the stupidity we humans face as we try and survive against the tidal wave of maddening legislation and rules that are followed to the Nth degree by mindless jobsworths who make our lives a misery.
My aim is to write a blog that resonates with fed up and disenfranchised members of the public who are constantly facing unreliable service from civil servants and the service industry. I want to make you laugh at the madness of it all, and also get motivated to get up from your seat and try and fix the problems too!
Watch this space!
To exorcise the rantings from my aching soul I've decided to off load these petty annoyances into a blog. My hope is that others will feel free to chip in and help me document the stupidity we humans face as we try and survive against the tidal wave of maddening legislation and rules that are followed to the Nth degree by mindless jobsworths who make our lives a misery.
My aim is to write a blog that resonates with fed up and disenfranchised members of the public who are constantly facing unreliable service from civil servants and the service industry. I want to make you laugh at the madness of it all, and also get motivated to get up from your seat and try and fix the problems too!
Watch this space!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)