In the News (fwd)

[Bobby Kleemann <neta.rkleeman@com>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
"The National Westminster Bank admitted last month that it keeps personal
information about its customers, such as their political affiliation, on
computer. But now Computer Weekly reveals that a financial institution,
sadly unnamed, has gone one better and moved into the realm of personal
abuse.

The institution decided to mailshot 2000 of its richest customers, inviting
them to buy extra services. One of its computer programmers wrote a program
to search through its databases and select its customers automatically. He
tested the program with an imaginary customer called Richard Bastard.

Unfortunately, an error resulted in all 2000 letters being addressed "Dear
Rich Bastard". The luckless programmer was subsequently sacked."