Madam,

With reference to the article in your editions of 3 January, ‘Council plays down web data blunder’.

The county council’s attempts to play down the seriousness of a data breach which made the personal and medical details of 50 people accessible on the internet, shows their seeming indifference towards the people of Ceredigion.

This is not an inconsequential matter and it is tempting to think that part of reason for playing things down may be that there seems to be no chance of an apology for the people whose details had been posted on the web for all to access, which would also limit the amount of criticism the county council could receive if it is found culpable.

The county council was quick to say that the problem had been resolved by them removing the information from their website. However, can the county council be certain that the files cannot be accessed somewhere on the internet?

As far as not knowing how long the private information had been publicly available, perhaps the county council could take a hint from the fact that they were informed in 2007 about the same files, some dating from 2004.

The fact, revealed by the Cambrian News last September, that the work of the information management office had not been reviewed by the council for over two years does not reflect well on those who are elected and chosen to scrutinise the work of this office.

If the result of this debacle is that ‘heads will roll’, then we should also bear in mind that some senior management and elected officers almost certainly acted sub-optimally in this matter.

Yours etc

George Holloway, Rhoshendre, Waunfawr, Aberystwyth.

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