A lot of people in the UK prosecutors offices and post office management should be going to prison.
That goes back to 1999, when the Horizon software system was installed in post offices by Fujitsu subsidiary International Computers Limited. From 1999 to 2015, Fujitsu’s faulty accounting software aided in the prosecution and conviction of more than 900 sub-postmasters and postmistresses who were accused of theft or fraud when the software wrongly made it appear that money was missing from their branches.
During the prosecutions, courts hearing cases against postal employees “were not told of 29 bugs identified as early as 1999 in the system it built,” The Guardian wrote in a summary of Patterson’s testimony today. The article said:
When bugs were acknowledged, witness statements from Fujitsu staff due to be heard in court were then edited by the Post Office as it sought to maintain the line that the system was working well as it pursued innocent people through the courts.
Thanks, I was wondering what this was
You could try out this crazy new thing called reading the article
Far too many writers turn two sentences of information into two pages of waffle.
Sure, and that’s what I would have done next if someone didn’t extract the key detail I was looking for
When a story is relevant to me I’ll still go and read the article. Otherwise I can get the details I need, as well as extra context, from the comment sections
Also people from Fujitsu committed perjury in court.
Perjury*
Pugery
That’s quite a tame picture considering the typo
Oof, yeah.
It’s what happens when you have a ‘justice’ system which is biased in favour of people with more money to spend on lawyers - literally pay to win. It’s unthinkable that in such a democratic society our justice system could still be this way, biased against poor people.
I’m looking forward to watching the TV adaptation soon. Mr. Bates vs. The Post Office.
It’s really good, but at the same time so infuriating that I had trouble sleeping after watching an episode.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Right from the very start of deployment of the system, there were bugs and errors and defects, which were well-known to all parties," said Paul Patterson, co-CEO of Fujitsu’s European division.
During the prosecutions, courts hearing cases against postal employees “were not told of 29 bugs identified as early as 1999 in the system it built,” The Guardian wrote in a summary of Patterson’s testimony today.
Asked by the lead counsel of the public inquiry, Jason Beer KC, whether he agreed that this was shameful, Patterson, who has worked at the company for 14 years, said: "That would be one word I would use.
A Financial Times article said that the public inquiry “heard in December last year that the Post Office’s lawyers had rewritten Fujitsu witness statements.”
Earlier this week, Patterson told UK Parliament members that "Fujitsu would like to apologize for our part in this appalling miscarriage of justice.
Post Office Minister Kevin Hollinrake, the MP for Thirsk and Malton, told the BBC that his “number one priority” is to “try and get compensation and get answers for people.”
The original article contains 736 words, the summary contains 181 words. Saved 75%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
deleted by creator
If this becomes a right and just world? Yes. In reality this has been a known thing for decades and its still going on because…thats the world we live in.
Some people will get a slap on the wrist, some will get promotions, and the people who are wrongly convicted will be handed a few bucks and told to watch their ass.
This is the UK, not the US. There will be little to no fallout from this, and the victims will be threatened with consequences for speaking out.
In the us basically nothing would happen either lol
There would be a class action lawsuit where lawyers take two thirds of the settlement and those affected would get enough for a fancy Starbucks coffee.
Class action lawsuits usually give about a third to the lawyers, and the rest is divided between the plaintiffs, so most of them get 10 or 20 bucks.
And, of course, they would be shamed for how they spent it and told thats why people are poor.
deleted by creator
Capitalism!
FOSS or create hell. Literally.
