It would certainly reduce frustration levels if users could throw their IT department in jail next time they botch a system upgrade and lose everyone’s email. However, it’s probably a little disproportionate as far as punishments go.
David Blunkett appears to disagree. "Detain IT developers indefinitely under the Terrorism Act, and then try them in secret", he says…
Funny you should mention that, that is almost what the Identity Cards Bill section "31 Tampering with the Register etc." is proposing – up to 10 years in jail and/or a fine for
"(b) where it makes it more difficult or impossible for such information to be retrieved in a legible form from a computer on which it is stored by the Secretary of State, or contributes to making that more difficult or impossible"
There isn’t even a defence of "no intent to damage" e.g.
"or is reckless as to whether or not his conduct will cause such a modification"
in other words:
"Identity Card Bill – 10 years in jail for going on strike or accidentaly causing a systems crash ?"