HMRC named web Villain of 2008

HM Revenue and Customs won the booby prize at this year's Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) awards.

It was named Internet Villain of the Year at a ceremony in London on Friday night for managing to lose the records of 25 million UK citizens in November last year.

HMRC beat the British Phonographic Industry, David Cameron MP, French president Nicholas Sarkozy and BT Wholesale to the Villain gong.

"HMRC won the Internet Villain category for failing to take the protection of people’s personal data seriously and highlighting bad practice in protecting data by losing computer disks containing confidential details of 25 million child benefit recipients," ISPA said.

There was also a Hero of the Year award, which went to Peter Robbins, the chief executive of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), for "his continued leadership of the IWF and approach to fostering extensive partnerships with the internet industry, the government and law enforcement agencies to tackle illegal online content."

And the IWF also sponsors another category honouring those who do outstanding work in keeping the internet safe, which was won by Richard Swetenham, head of the eContent and Safer Internet Unit at the European Commission.

There were also several categories honouring UK ISPs for the services they provide. PlusNet won the Best Consumer ISP award, NewNet won the Best Consumer Broadband gong, and Vodafone was the winner of the Best Wireless ISP award.

A full list of winners can be found at the ISPA Awards website. Web User Editor Claire Woffenden was among the judges.

Musician Feargal Sharkey also spoke at the event, calling for the music industry and ISPs to work together more closely to stamp out piracy.

www.webuser.co.uk/specials/175562.html
www.ispaawards.org.uk
www.hmrc.gov.uk
www.iwf.org.uk
www.plus.net
www.newnet.co.uk
www.vodafone.co.uk