Thursday, March 02, 2006

Big Government Databases

The next time someone tells you the answer to some pressing social problem is a massive new government database, read this first - an audit of Australia's main social-service database.

Even more cautionary is this information about Canada's failed gun registry database. Or this one. Or this web site.

Private databases often do poorly as well - see the opening paragraph here. The difference is, when the private firm screws up, they can't tax you - at worst they go out of business and someone smarter takes their place.

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