I'm stalking all of you
Well, at least those of you with kids. I don't know what all the fuss is about. It's dead easy to get the information. All I need to do is search the two CDs which came through the post from the Child Benefit Agency last autumn.

What?

/crawls back under rock
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Tue 5 Feb 2008, 10:23, 5 replies)

and on that topic
Wasn't there something in the Sunday papers about how the benefit agency then tried to write to 10,000 or 100,000 (pick a number, I can't remember but it was high) of those people to apologise, but it transpires they didn't have the right address? The paper seemed indignant about this. If I was on those CDs I would feel a) relieved rather than indignant and b) unsurprised that the agency managed to fuck up a fuck up.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Tue 5 Feb 2008, 10:27, closed)

I don't know about that...
...but there was an article a little while ago - shortly after the CDs were lost. Jeremy Clarkson had apparently written in one of his newspaper columns that this was "a big polava over nothing," before ranting about how it was impossible to glean anything from the data on those CDs. To prove his point, he published his bank account number and sort code in the article.

And hey presto! When he next checks his bank statement, he sees that somebody has managed to get into his account and make a £500 donation to a random charity. Serves the arrogant fascist right. I laughed most heartily.
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 5 Feb 2008, 11:36, closed)

I often wonder about that ^^^
I was discussing this with my boss just yesterday. If you write someone a cheque, it has your account name, bank name and address, sort code and account number printed on it. It's easy to find out an address, but you never hear of fraud because someone's got the information this way.

Just wondering how it works.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Tue 5 Feb 2008, 11:44, closed)

Mr Fossil's flatmate
got a letter from the MOD recently, saying that his details were on the laptop that was lost. Given that he applied there for a job 5 years ago, it seems that it was a laptop full of files marked "rejects" and "losers".
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Wed 6 Feb 2008, 12:51, closed)