2 ms·
If I recall correctly from the previous threads on this subject, the bugs were just one factor. The more important, and more culpable, was the Post leadership t
by like_any_other 2y ago
If I recall correctly from the previous threads on this subject, the bugs were just one factor. The more important, and more culpable, was the Post leadership that knowingly covered up the bugs, and lied about not having received any bug reports.
Bugs were just the excuse - the cause was criminally hostile and deceitful post leadership.
Subpostmasters began reporting balancing errors within weeks of the Horizon system being installed, via the helpline the subpostmasters were instructed to use. The Post Office denied the subpostmasters' reports of faults in the system, insisted that the subpostmasters make up any shortfall of money, and in many cases untruthfully denied that any other subpostmasters had reported problems. In May 2002, shopkeeper Baljit Sethi raised concerns with the press that there were errors in Horizon, after his wife Anjana was notified that her subpostmaster contract would be terminated.[48] The Post Office responded that it "totally refuted" that the system was faulty, and that it had "sent experts ... to check it twice". - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Post_Office_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Post_Office_scandal
- janice1999 2y agoThey not only lied, they use threats to silence the only external expert consultant they brought in to examine the system who found faults. They then spent a decade prosecuting people and sending them to prison while instructing people to lie on the stand. Innocent people lost their businesses and homes, went to prison, marriages fell apart and victims committed suicide. Post office management should be in prison. They killed people and destroyed families and communities.
- nickdothutton 2y agoIt is a little like modern aircraft disasters. A technical failure or combination of failures, perhaps even minor ones, combined with bad/wrong immediate management of the situation when the fault is detected, compounded by some matter of policy. In this case a refusal to acknowledge at the highest level that the system could possibly be wrong. "Clearly it must be the sub-postmasters stealing". Edit: I would also add that successive governments have shamelessly dragged their feet over this.
- csours 2y agoThis comment is your periodic HN plug for "The Field Guide to Understanding Human Error" - https://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-Understanding-Human-Error/dp/1472439058 https://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-Understanding-Human-Error...