The IT contractor responsible for posting the Independent Police Complaints Council's list of names on the Web has gone public with the defence that it was supplied with real information when it had asked for 'simulated data', presumably to test a format conversion program ('Watchdog admits error in leak: DAB', March 30).
Unfortunately, this only confuses the issue. A crucial question no one has yet asked is: Why was this data uploaded to the Web in the first place?
Format conversion is a simple, routine task. There's absolutely no need to put data on the Web for the purpose. And if the records had not been put on the Web, they would not have been leaked.
I also fail to see why the contractor, EDPS Systems, asked for 'simulated data'.
There is little possibility of tainting original data (with a properly written program, anyway), and there were only a few thousand records.
Actual data could, and should, have been used. For one thing, simulated data rarely gives you the range of variations of the real thing. Also, it takes time and knowledge of the original database to create 'simulated data', and who has that?