Hacker Timesnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Amateurs. Canada set up a national gun registry database for a mere $710 million US. That's just the cost of the computer system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Firearms_Registry#Cost...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2004/02/13/gunregistry_rdi04021...

This is one of the few times I agree 100% with conservatives. The very concept of the database is dubious, and the implementation is almost a paradigmatic example of waste. It amazes me that this is not a bigger scandal than it is in Canada.



Pffffft. I can beat that.

PPARS, the "new" payment system for Irelands national health service (new in 2005, the health service is called the HSE).

With a set budget of €9m,the total cost was €220m in 2009, and the system isn't even bloody working.

Remember this is not Canada, it's Ireland, with only 4m people and a much smaller income.

The problem is that this isn't an exception, in Ireland it's the rule.

More info here:http://www.independent.ie/national-news/ppars-fiasco-as-cost...


Sorry, but the UK really can beat that. The NHS spent ~£12bn (approx $18bn US) on a computer system that the government eventually wanted to "scrap"! http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/pbr...


Incompetence does not always explain fuckups of that magnitude. Throw in equal amounts of conflicts of interest and corruption.


The number (as I'm sure you know) typically quoted in the media, in Canadian dollars, is $1 Billion dollars.

If you went out onto the street in Canada and did a survey with one question: "How many Million dollars are in a Billion dollars", what percentage of people would be able to answer that question correctly. I would guess well below 50%. Literally not knowing how much it actually cost is the only thing that would explain to me the public apathy....other than apathy about almost everything actually important, which is the simpler explanation.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: