BBC Panorama researcher involved in data breach

Eye
Another snafu from the BBC

BBC investigative programme Panorama has come under fire after one of its researchers has been involved in a major data leak.

The Independent reports that the ICO (Information Commissioner's Office) is investigating the snafu after an "inexperienced researcher" downloaded files from a Dropbox account, put it on a USB stick and gave it to a third party.

The leak will apparently be treated as a criminal offence under Section 55 of the DPA (Data protection Act) and is intertwinned with another Panorama-related leak.

The incriminated researcher went on report to say that she leaked the files because she believed a documentary on alleged malpractices in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets was unbalanced.

It appears that the files were deliberately leaked but included data on a secret British military unit, which was not supposed to be part of the bounty.

That programme, which was aired back in November and entitled "Britain's Secret Terror Force", looked at the Military Reaction Force. Moreover, the identity of at least one serviceman from this controversial elite unit is said to have been compromised.

Desire Athow
Managing Editor, TechRadar Pro

Désiré has been musing and writing about technology during a career spanning four decades. He dabbled in website builders and web hosting when DHTML and frames were in vogue and started narrating about the impact of technology on society just before the start of the Y2K hysteria at the turn of the last millennium.