Submitted to BBC not too long ago:
I am one of the many serving members of the Armed Services who has had their personal details stolen in the recent theft of a laptop.
Today we received a "signal" that, because the incident had appeared in the press it was probably best that we should all know what had happened. In other words almost a written confession that the MoD would not have informed us had it not been made public knowledge.
This is obviously unsatisfactory but I feel there are further questions that need asking here. For instance why would my details from my application in 1997 still be recorded? This poses many Data Protection Act questions and surely warrants further investigation.
Also, amazingly, when calling the phone number set up to check if your details were lost or not, on confirmation that ones details have been lost they then ask you to post a copy of a bank statement, utility bill, driving license / passport to Confirm your Identity !!!! Unbelievable and just a little incompetent. I shall not be providing yet further information so that it can be lost by these idiots.
I just hope that we all receive a written apology and that some consequences occur ref the DPA.
I DO NOT think that the Lt concerned should be made an example of, yes he was a complete tool for leaving the laptop in the car. The important thing is that this exposes much deeper issues with the way some parts of the MoD are handling our data.
Grrrrrrrrrrrr