2011 Census soon!

[stockhausen]

You mean the many hundreds of systems across the global banking system that have no end of issues talking to each other ...

Whilst this has Sweet FA to do with the UK 2011 census, do you really believe that it is beyond the capabilities of the swarms of IT geeks at the various UK banks to get them talking to one another?

I believe that Gordon Brown told the banks to sort out cheque clearances ten years ago and they have done absolutely nothing about it.

I'm quite sure that this has nothing to do with the fact that the thieving banks take the money out of your account one day and it appears in someone else's account three days to a week later

 

[[TW]Fox]

I'm quite sure that this has nothing to do with the fact that the thieving banks take the money out of your account one day and it appears in someone else's account three days to a week later

Not heard of Faster Payments? It takes 2 hours these days.

How dare banks charge for services!

 

[rypt]

Not heard of Faster Payments? It takes 2 hours these days.

How dare banks charge for services!

When that services costs them nothing extra to provide (it's all numbers on a computer afterall)

 

[Sp00n]

But they have to pay for the computer and the infrastructure to put that number on to.

 

[rypt]

But they have to pay for the computer and the infrastructure to put that number on to.

Which all comes from the money they earn on the money I deposit with them ...

 

[[TW]Fox]

Which all comes from the money they earn on the money I deposit with them ...

I doubt you've deposited enough money to make them anything.

 

[Dunks]

I doubt you've deposited enough money to make them anything.

Considering bank revenue runs into the tens of billions, I don't think anyone here has made a noticable contribution

 

[rypt]

I doubt you've deposited enough money to make them anything.

For every £1 they hold, they are able to lend out, what is it 10x? 100x?

 

[RDM]

Whilst this has Sweet FA to do with the UK 2011 census, do you really believe that it is beyond the capabilities of the swarms of IT geeks at the various UK banks to get them talking to one another?

Speaking as someone that used to work at one of the UK banks I am somewhat aware of the issues that they can and do have on a semi-regular basis. The reason they have swarms of IT geeks is to develop and maintain those systems, both internal and external.

I believe that Gordon Brown told the banks to sort out cheque clearances ten years ago and they have done absolutely nothing about it.

I'm quite sure that this has nothing to do with the fact that the thieving banks take the money out of your account one day and it appears in someone else's account three days to a week later

Or instantly if both banks are using faster payments. If it bothers you that much switch to a bank that does it.

 

[[TW]Fox]

For every £1 they hold, they are able to lend out, what is it 10x? 100x?

Are we going to add banking to the seemingly endless list of things you know how to fix better than anyone else?

 

[Lopéz]

Are we going to add banking to the seemingly endless list of things you know how to fix better than anyone else?

rypt is Master of the Universe remember, there's nothing he cannot put to rights. If only someone would give him the chance!

 

[semi-pro waster]

I think "they already have this info" and "it is none of their business" covers most of the reasons.

Failure to use info they already hold is just pure lazyness

I'm not sure that this isn't futile but I'll say it anyway. The data is not centrally held, it's on many disparate systems that cannot talk to each other as has already been pointed out so no, they can't just use the information they've already got. That's without considering that sometimes, just possibly, the information held might be out of date or even incomplete so asking for it all at once allows a simple snapshot at one point in time where the information has a reasonable chance of being accurate at that instant (aside obviously from the people who are planning how to provide incorrect information).

As for "needing more info to plan services", well your ethnicity should not matter for that, your first language does not matter for that.

And perhaps, your ethnicity isn't just used to plan services per se. It's also an information gathering exercise to show trends on a historical basis. Your first language and ethnicity do matter though for services to an extent - if you're going to provide services for people it helps if they can understand them. Now I'm sure the argument will swiftly follow that it should all be in English as a not so subtle variation on Henry Ford's "you can have any colour as long as it's black" or maybe 'why should we cater to anyone else?' - it's not that simple, while it might be nice if everyone spoke perfect English (and I'm including most of the natives in that), not everyone does hence provision needs to be made somehow.

Equally asking how people travel to work is a bit pointless too, as I can plan for the future of the country transport needs without asking that question.
You need good public transport that is cheap and reliable.
You need good infrastructure for personal transport via cars.

And without knowing how people currently travel to work you can't know precisely what areas need improved. If you query the inhabitants of a small town and discover that under no circumstances would they ever consider taking a bus then why provide a cheap and reliable bus service for them? You're just wasting money at that point which could be better spent on improving the roads or perhaps the train network - you probably wouldn't have found that information out without the census questions.

 

[rypt]

the information held might be out of date

Ahem, illegal under DPA no?

 

[semi-pro waster]

Ahem, illegal under DPA no?

Out of the whole post that's what you got from it? So can I presume from your lack of comment on the rest that you have no argument with anything else there?

The information held should be up to date (where applicable) but I'm using the phrase in a more general sense than the specifics covered under the Data Protection Act. People change various aspects of their lives and services/products/whatever they subscribe to so it may come down to timing differences what information is kept - you avoid that problem by getting everyone to do it for the same date, at that point it's a snapshot as at that date, no more and no less. It's not a snapshot at that date but Mr Jones has had his data on file for 8 months and it hasn't been updated and Mrs Bryan..., it's a simple cut-off. It's also worth remembering that the individual the data is held on may want to update the data or correct anything that is incorrectly held about them and they've got the right to do that - it's not always down to the organisation holding the data.

 

[rypt]

But an evolving dataset is better than 10 year snapshots

 

[magick]

magick so you cant be bothered filling in a form but you can be bothered to spend a full month with the curtains shut avoiding answering the door ?

I won't be spending a full month with my cutains shut and not answering the door. If they come round i'll just not tell them i'm the legal occupier and not give them any details, what can they do?

 

[bitslice]

Some things are absolute - like ethnicity

Michael Jackson

born - Black, Afro-American male, normal
died - White, effeminate Diana Ross lookalike, paedophile

 

[Zip]

I won't be spending a full month with my cutains shut and not answering the door. If they come round i'll just not tell them i'm the legal occupier and not give them any details, what can they do?

If the government is as evil and out there to get every one like quite a few people are making out in this thread then what wont they do

 

[bitslice]

What do people reckon the chances are, of the census results finding their way onto Wikileaks?

Identifiable data is being released to certain researchers, but the security of such data has been a running joke for years.

 

[stockhausen]

What do people reckon the chances are, of the census results finding their way onto Wikileaks?

Identifiable data is being released to certain researchers, but the security of such data has been a running joke for years.

You've got to love this quote from the ONS

In releasing statistics from the Census, all possible steps will be taken to prevent the inadvertent disclosure of information about identifiable individuals and households.

My emphasis