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back to article 30,000 London gun owners hit by Met Police 'data breach'

London gun owners are asking questions of the Metropolitan Police after the force seemingly handed the addresses of 30,000 firearm and shotgun owners to a direct mail marketing agency for a commercial firm's advertising campaign. The first any of the affected people knew about the blunder was when the leaflet (pictured below) …

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  1. HieronymusBloggs

    Why the fuss?

    If you get shot with a stolen firearm you'll now have the peace of mind of knowing it might be marked with "Smartwater" (and thus be traceable) thanks to the Met's generosity with previously confidential data. </sarcasm>

    9 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Why the fuss?

      :) Smartwater, schmartwater.

      Guess what? I have a source of fluid that is totally traceable and customized to my specific DNA. It's called piss and I can just piss all over my nicest and most valuable things and be one up on the old MET!!1! And by extension, Scotland Yard and Mr. Sherlock Holmes and his evil, high-tech, sidekick IBM Watson and his baccarat conundrum! The game is A FOOT! And my foot is asleep.

      Let me make a note of this new tech, so we can license it later...

      DNA-based, yellow, security fluid backed by blockchain, quantum, AI, public virtual, Watson cloudburst, on-prem, local, hybrid cloud offering.

      Thanks! Some samples and a very wet check are in the post, lads! Does Royal Mail accept counterfeit stamps?

      3 1 Reply
      1. Korev Silver badge
        Reply Icon
        Pint

        Re: Why the fuss?

        Or just go for the Withnail approach...

        1 0 Reply
  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Thank you Met

    We have database, we sell addresses. You want, specify village/township and how many addresses. 100 zeni each. email youarestupidtothinkthisisreal@notarealdomain.tor.ru.anu.anus

    0 0 Reply
  3. Sven Coenye
    Facepalm

    Selling it

    "While Smartwater kits are routinely offered to burglary victims by the force..."

    So they can mark the spots where their stuffs used to be? I hope "offered" means "free", 'cause otherwise, there's more than a few bad smells here.

    5 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Selling it

      "there's more than a few bad smells here."

      You must be new to the world of the Association of Chief Police Officers Ltd (ACPO Ltd), now renamed to NPCC or something like that.

      Dig a little. Learn a lot.

      1 0 Reply
  4. Winkypop Silver badge
    Devil

    You leave one USB stick on a train and....

    ...everyone is shooting the messenger.

    1 0 Reply
  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oh, direct marketing lists.

    That will explain the free sample of herpes cream some of us got in my street...

    1 0 Reply
  6. Roj Blake Silver badge

    IPA

    Remember folks, these are the people who have virtually unfettered access to your internet connection records.

    4 0 Reply
  7. Potemkine Silver badge

    the firm has since forged very close links with a number of UK police forces

    Now police has just have to find who extracted illegally the data to give/sell them to that firm

    A Met press officer did not immediately respond to our questions, saying that the key person responsible was on leave.

    Ok, that may not be that easy then...

    1 0 Reply
  8. zaax

    Funny how the person who is responsable is always on leave.

    2 0 Reply
  9. Mark Dempster

    >Everyone is talking about the breach. What about the numbers? Why are the 25,000 shotguns in London? How many have shortened barrels and live in the back of Ford Transits?<

    I'm finding it hard to decide whether this is a poor attempt at a joke, or you really don't understand what's being discussed...

    5 0 Reply
  10. Dalek Dave

    You are advised not to let anyone know you have firearms.

    Why would I put a warning on my house?

    4 Rifles, 6 shotguns and an extended pistol, hundreds of cartridges, hundreds of rounds as well as black powder as well as crossbows, longbows, black widows and some nasty military and hunting knives, all locked in my gun room, protected by an alarm, a dog and a SOTA locking system.

    And still I don't want people knowing where it is!

    1 0 Reply
  11. EnviableOne

    losing track

    this wasn't a smartwater campaign. It was a Met Police campaign, with a smartwater Ad.

    The met police sub-contracted the company to do the mailing, so remained the data controller throughout.

    0 0 Reply

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