Whitehall schizophrenia – the cartoon

We have noted before that Whitehall is at one and the same time advising individuals and businesses (a) that the web is dangerous and (b) that we should put all our personal data on-line in the cloud. Please see The on-line safety of the mooncalves, 4 July 2013.

Six months later and it's happening again.

The nice Dr Jekyll at the Home Office issued a press release the other day, New campaign urges people to be 'Cyber Streetwise':

A new campaign to change the way people protect themselves from falling victim to cyber criminals has been launched by the government. The ‘Cyber Streetwise’ campaign aims to change the way people view online safety and provide the public and businesses with the skills and knowledge they need to take control of their cyber security. The campaign includes a new easy-to-use website and online videos.

Meanwhile, thanks to all the nasty Mr Hydes, Whitehall departments are shunting their systems into the cloud as fast as possible with our data in them. No more efficient way of losing control of our data has yet been discovered.

We're used to the schizophrenia.

That's now been joined by infantilism.

We already have a grown-up website giving us advice how to protect ourselves on the web, Get Safe Online. The new website seems to have been designed for children, Cyber Streetwise.

What did we do in our previous lives to deserve this:

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Updated 14.2.14

It transpires that the National Cyber Security Programme is spending £4 million on the Cyber Streetwise campaign, which is said to "look like a site aimed at children rather than adults and business owners". The Office of Cyber Security & Information Assurance (OCSIA) whose campaign it is comes under Francis Maude.