Embarrassing Council Carelessness breaches acceptable Data Protection Standards
Personal data is held on trust by Data Controllers and appropriate standards of care must be in applied when engaging in any processing of personal data. While it is distressing for the individuals whose data is inappropriately disclosed, Data Controllers must be conscious of the damage to reputation and customer confidence that flows directly from lack of awareness of and appropriate care and attention to Data Protection duties.
This evening's RTE news carried details of the inadvertent disclosure of personal data by two local government agencies through what is best described as careless action. Taken together, almost 1000 people's personal information (at a minimum their email address and the fact that they have registered as having a second property) has been disclosed.
Offaly County Council disclosed at least 650 email addresses while Cork County Council disclosed 200. Both incidents have been reported to the Data Protection Commissioner. However, it seems that in the case of Offaly County Council the report came from one of the affected parties, not the Data Controller.
"Anyone processing personal data must remember that they hold that data on trust and owe a duty of care to the subject of that data", says Daragh O Brien, MD of Castlebridge Associates.
He continues: "Associated with that Duty of Care is a need to apply minimum standards of care and engage in proper planning of policies, processes and procedures, as well as employing appropriate technologies to ensure security at all points in the information life cycle".
"Cutting and pasting email addresses into a To: field, or CC: field of an email exposes all such email addresses. The use of the BCC: field does not. The use of readily available email marketing tools to send targeted mailings provides an even more robust approach".
Councils and Councillors should take care to ensure that all staff and council officials are fully aware of their Data Protection duties and the practical steps and controls which can be put in place to ensure that trust can be maintained in how personal data is being processed by Local Government in Ireland.
About Castlebridge Associates
Castlebridge Associates is one of Ireland's leading specialist Information Management consultancies providing a range of services in the areas of Data Protection, Information Strategy, Information Quality, and Data Governance.
Amongst other services, we provide coaching, bespoke training, mentoring and consultancy services for Data Protection, focusing on the practical application of the 8 Principles and how they can enable business success and trust.
Organisations looking to improve their internal skills and awareness in these increasingly important areas should contact Castlebridge Associates to learn more about how we can help you maximise the benefits from the information that fuels your business: http://castlebridge-associates.com/forms/contact-us
Castlebridge Associates' founder Daragh O Brien is a noted figure in the field of Information Asset Management world wide with a number of articles and publications to his name.
Contact us at http://castlebridge-associates.com, twitter.com/cbridgeinfo or phone +353 539100049
About Daragh O Brien
Prior to founding Castlebridge Associates, Daragh O Brien lead a Compliance team in a leading Irish telecommunications firm. Prior to that he held strategic and operational responsibility for Single View of Customer strategy and execution. In each role he was a Champion and evangalist for the value high quality information through well defined and controlled processes.
He is a Fellow of the Irish Computer Society, a Founder member of the International Association for Information & Data Quality and a tutor on the Irish Computer Society's Data Protection Certificate. He co-founded and leads the ICS Information Quality Network.
He has been a keynote speaker, Chairman, and Panel participant at Information Quality and Data Governance conferences in Ireland, UK, Europe, North America, and Australia