UK Government Accidentally Doxxes Award Winners

More than 1,000 celebrities, government employees and politicians recognized in the U.K.'s traditional New Year's Honours list this year "have had their home and work addresses posted on a government website," reports the Guradian.

Shimbo (Slashdot reader #100,005) quotes their report:
The accidental disclosure of the tranche of personal details is likely to be considered a significant security breach, particularly as senior police and Ministry of Defence staff were among those whose addresses were made public.

Many of the more than a dozen Ministry of Defence employees and senior counter-terrorism officers who received honours had their home addresses revealed, along with countless others who may believe the disclosure has put them in a vulnerable position.

Prominent public figures including the musician Elton John, the cricketer Ben Stokes, NHS England's chief executive, Simon Stevens, the politicians Iain Duncan Smith and Diana Johnson, TV chef Nadiya Hussain, and the former director of public prosecutions Alison Saunders were among those whose home addresses were published...

The vast majority of people on the list had their house numbers, street names and postcodes included.


The director of the non-profit privacy group Big Brother Watch expressed concerns to the Guardian that the government "doesn't have a basic grip on data protection, and that people receiving some of the highest honours have been put at risk because of this.

"It's a farcical and inexcusable mistake, especially given the new Data Protection Act passed by the government last year -- it clearly can't stick by its rules."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.