At least two actual breaches of Data Protection by Hertfordshire County Council - how did they happen?

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J Edwards To FOI requests at
<[FOI #36921 email]> Hertfordshire County Council
<[Hertfordshire County Council request email]>
10/06/2010 14:42 cc
Subject Freedom of Information
request - At least two
actual breaches of Data
Protection by Hertfordshire
County Council - how did
they happen?

Dear Hertfordshire County Council,

On 1st June 2010 Hertfordshire County Council wrote to tell me
that, in responding to an information request from a member of the
public (i.e. not me) concerning Grove Road, Hemel Hempstead, and
through a "human error", they had "ineffectively redacted" the data
and as a consequence my personal data (my name, e-mail address and
mobile phone number). I believe that the unredacted information was
sent in mid May 2010.

Also on 1st June 2010. Hertfordshire County Council wrote to
Whatdotheyknow to tell them that they had "ineffectively redacted"
their response to my query on this site (Please send me the results
of your investigation into the continued obstruction of Grove
Road), presumably as the result of the same "human error". As a
consequence the entire report can now be seen on the Whatdotheyknow
site under the above query, together with the redacted version.
Viewing the redacted and unredacted versions on this site,there has
been a major breach of confidentiality. The response was delivered
on 4th May 2010.

The same "human error" has occurred at least twice, with some 14
days between a first and second occurrence. This being so, it is
reasonable to assume that this is a generic problem which has
affected a number of responses.

My request is therefore that HCC provide full, chronological,
details of what went wrong both in general and for the two
particular instances noted above (such as what happened, how it
happened, how it was discovered, how many cases have occurred (and
how many people have had to be notified), over how long a period,
what has been done to ensure it does not happen again and so on).

Yours faithfully,

J Edwards

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Reference number: FOI/RAP/06/10/2182

Dear J Edwards,

Thank you for your correspondence of 10th June 2010 requesting the
following information:

'On 1st June 2010 Hertfordshire County Council wrote to tell me
that, in responding to an information request from a member of the
public (i.e. not me) concerning Grove Road, Hemel Hempstead, and
through a "human error", they had "ineffectively redacted" the data
and as a consequence my personal data (my name, e-mail address and
mobile phone number). I believe that the unredacted information was
sent in mid May 2010.

Also on 1st June 2010. Hertfordshire County Council wrote to
Whatdotheyknow to tell them that they had "ineffectively redacted"
their response to my query on this site (Please send me the results
of your investigation into the continued obstruction of Grove
Road), presumably as the result of the same "human error". As a
consequence the entire report can now be seen on the Whatdotheyknow
site under the above query, together with the redacted version.
Viewing the redacted and unredacted versions on this site,there has
been a major breach of confidentiality. The response was delivered
on 4th May 2010.

The same "human error" has occurred at least twice, with some 14
days between a first and second occurrence. This being so, it is
reasonable to assume that this is a generic problem which has
affected a number of responses.

My request is therefore that HCC provide full, chronological,
details of what went wrong both in general and for the two
particular instances noted above (such as what happened, how it
happened, how it was discovered, how many cases have occurred (and
how many people have had to be notified), over how long a period,
what has been done to ensure it does not happen again and so on).'

Your request for information is being considered under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. We will respond to your request as quickly as
possible, and by 8th July 2010 at the latest.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me, quoting
the reference number on this email. To find out more about Freedom of
Information, please visit www.hertsdirect.org/foi.

Yours sincerely,
________________________________________
Information Governance Unit
Hertfordshire County Council
Telephone: 01992 555848
Fax: 01992 588117
Email: [email address]

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Dear Mr. Edwards,

FOI/RAP/06/10/2182

Please find attached our response to your recent request.

If you have any queries relating to this request please contact me quoting
the reference number above.

Yours sincerely,

Elaine Dunnicliffe
Senior Information Access Practitioner
________________________________________
Information Governance Unit
Hertfordshire County Council
Telephone: 01992 555848
Fax: 01992 588117
Email: [email address]

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