Re: Fw: New UK evidence guidelines

On Fri, 03 Oct 2003, David Hansen wrote:

> > Can anyone justify the fact that the hard drive contents were erased as a 
> > precondition to the physical return of the equipment?
> 
> I too was fascinated at this. And these are precisely the bods that the 
> Home Office uses as an excuse for every council to have access to my 
> data (well just some of it for the moment, but that could easily change 

This is what Simon means when he talks about the need for regulation.
Sadly, whatever his good intentions, government in general allows its
staff to exact revenge on the man in the street for imagined slights
without legal basis as a perk of the job, and no amount of regulation
will alter that.

Basic rule of dealing with local government: name, rank and serial
number only.  Don't report crimes, don't provide information, don't say
_anything_ to them.  There may be an honest council somewhere in the
country, but I've yet to see one.

ian