Data Protection Breaches

Your data is important to you and you want to make sure that it is safe.  You want to make sure that your data only goes to the people who need it or you give authorisation too.  In fact there is a section of the law dedicated to this; it's called the Data Protection Act (DPA).  If you want to find out more about it then have a little look here.

So why am I telling you this?  Its because all companies break DPA from time to time.  Seriously.  Remember ages back in the UK when it seemed like everyone in Whitehall was leaving Laptops and Flash Drives around?  Those were all DPA breaches.  You know when you hear on an automated call centre line that they cannot discuss the case with Third parties?  That is the reason that your wife cannot phone for you without you there.  It's the reason that your Son needs you permission to use your card. This doesn't answer the question, however, why we are talking about it here. All councils break DPA too…

So why not ask them how many times they have breached DPA?  So I did (for 2010)…  Here are the answers:

Name	Amount of DPA breaches
Blaenau	Not Answered
Bridgend	20
Caerphilly	Not Answered
Cardiff	48
Carmarthenshire	11
Ceredigion	3
Conway	0
Denbighshire	Not Answered
Flintshire	57
Gwynedd	42
Anglesey	8
Merthyr Tydfil	4
Monmouth	1
Neath Port Talbot	1
Newport	30
Pembroke	Not Answered
Powys	19
RCT	Not Answered
Swansea	5

Torfaen	3
Vale Of Glamorgan	Not Answered
Wrexham	Not Answered

Before I go into any further details on this one, I should point out that I did not specify why a DPA breach is to the council's, Welsh Government or National Assembly of Wales (More later).  Some of the numbers may be misleading as a DPA breach could be labeled as sending an email to someone who it was intended for.

The really cool thing is Conway comes out of this as squeaky clean.  No DPA breaches!  That is truly amazing!   Think of how manf personal files go through that council every days and yet they have NO DPA breached in in the since 2010!  Flintshire, on the other hand, has 57 (That being said, that works about at just under 6 a year, which is actually very good) .  That not good.  That being said, though, think of this.  They all have reported it and dealt with it accordingly (not mentioning any council in particular but one story came through of an ex employee who took data relating to clients and then gave it to another company.  The fact that this council reported it to the ICO).

So what happened when you ask the Welsh Government or National Assembly of Wales?  They send you to their website where they show you in detail what has happened. Pretty good isn't it?

So why bring this up here?  Think of how much information you local council has on you.  You name, location, age, benefits, length of stay in the house, what modifications happened to your house, etc…  All of this is being safeguarded by the people that YOU pay for.  Shouldn't they be held accountable?  Shouldn't they keep a track of what is wrong with them?  More than anything, isn't it so good to know that they hold themselves accountable to you.  

PS I also asked the Information Commissioner’s Office (They are the ones who are the DPA watchdog) how many times they have breached DPA…  Keeps your eyes peeled folks!