Fingal.ie- Is our information ‘as safe as houses’?
Posting personal information on the World Wide Web has long since been a very delicate and controversial subject, with different conditions posed on each situation. Fears were finally realised with the publication of the North County Leader in February of this year.
While scanning my local paper, the North County Leader, on February 26th of this year, I noticed the lead story that was splashed across the front page. Entitled, “The World Wide Web of Mistakes” this article deals with the publication of rather personal information of North County residents, who have submitted planning applications in recent years. Although difficult to find, it has emerged that information such as ‘birth certificates, school reports, bank statements, insurance certificates and tax statements‘ have been located on the site, with the permission of the applicants in question.
When interviewed, the Fingal County Council spokesperson, Florence White, explained that “every document submitted to the local authority by an applicant as part of any planning application is made available on the public planning file, regardless what kind of personal information it may contain.“
According to Ms. White, the council adopt a transparency policy with all the the information they receive, yet they do not ask the permission of the public to publish their personal information online. Ms. White replied by saying that with the sheer degree of applications received into the office on an annual basis, there is ‘no formal screening procedure‘ before information is uploaded.
The public are outraged at such a revelation and are calling for urgent reform from the government regarding personal data privacy in the public sector.
This situation is simply the tip of the iceberg. Recently, while on a trip to New York the personal information of 171,00 Irish blood donors was stolen, while a member of the New York Blood Service was robbed outsie his home.
I know this as I was one of the 171,000 Irish blood donors affected. In addition, I received a letter from the Irish Blood Transfusion Service informing me of this fact.
To be honest, I was extremely concerned, having remembered all the information I disclosed before giving blood.
Today, every little activity requires a litany of personal information, even setting up this blog required a great deal of personal information! If personal information is somehow “finding” its way onto the Internet, the Government must intercede as everyone has the right to privacy, not to have their personal affairs splashed across the World Wide Web.
