Raimo (he/him)Mar 11

I suspect most people outside of the UK won't have heard about the post office scandal, but it seems highly relevant to learn about now (given *waves* this):

For over 15 years, the software post offices in the UK had to use contained severe bugs, particular in accounting, that everyone at Fujitsu/horizon and the post blissfully ignored. Over 900 (!!!) postmasters were sentenced for alleged theft and fraud, some went to jail, some committed suicide. All because the software was shit and everyone who could do something about it didn't care and swept it under the rug.

Everything, including how it was uncovered, about this seems bizarre and Kafkaesque, but we better prepare for it to happen more often.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Post_Office_scandal

https://types.pl/@pigworker/116211919028571818

British Post Office scandal - Wikipedia

Show threadJon PENNYCOOK
@rradczewski Private Eye worked to expose it for years https://www.private-eye.co.uk/special-reports/justice-lost-in-the-post
Special Report: Justice Lost In The Post

CONCEIVED in 1996 as one of the first private finance initiative (PFI) contracts, between the Post Office and the Benefits Agency on the one hand and computer company ICL on the other, the Horizon IT system had an unpromising start. It had been set up to create a swipe card system for payment of pensions and benefits from Post Office branch counters. But, as with most mega-IT projects of the time, it soon fell victim to over-ambition, management consultancy snake oil and the inability of a PFI contract to deliver a complex public service.

Mar 16 at 11:36amWeb