Or is this a GDPR breach?

[nanamouskouri]

DC school has been getting a bit sloppy with communication to parents, up until now nothing serious just annoying, changing the fees without notice (46% rise 🙄), conflicting information about uniforms, telling us to return forms they sent out (that no one has received so probably not sent).

However they have now sent parents an email and cc’ed them all in. So everyone can see each other’s email addresses. AIBU or is this a GDPR breach? If so do I report it? Should I reply to the teacher who sent the email pointing it out?

Yes it is a breach
Ask the school what they are going to do about it.

Do you mind people knowing your email address?

I'd complain to the school. Yes it's a data protection breach but pretty minor and you don't seem to have suffered any loss because of it so not a huge deal.

Yes it is, and you need to draw it to their attention.

Yes it’s a breach. But it is minor and does NOT need reporting to the ICO unless there’s something v special about the email itself.

Total breach. I'm amazed!

It is a breach if you did ot consent to sharing of information but you need to complain to the school and advise them of the breach before you can report to the ICO.

That said if you ticked a box somewhere to say that they will send group communication then it would not be a breach and this is how companies and schools get around it.

Yes it is. But move on. The person sending it probably realised as soon as they sent it. They don't need a flood of emails from barrack room lawyers telling them they've forgotten to use the bcc field.

Yes it is. I always reply back to complain (nicely) about this and point out the possible consequences. Most people just are lucky enough to have never needed to think about it and are genuinely horrified.

Do you mind people knowing your email address?

That isn’t the point. Even if the OP was happy for everyone to know her email address, there might be plenty of people on there who don’t want hundreds of other people knowing and there might be many good reasons for that.

FWIW, someone once got hold of my email address like this (not via a school but through a group I had once been a member of) and there was a very good reason indeed that I didn’t want him to have it because he had form for stalking other women.

@Chouetted What are the consequences?

@dollydaydream114 How do people stalk you through your email address?

dollydaydream114

The OP was asking me what I thought she should do, so it sort of is the point. I would only inform the teacher if I cared. Others have the same option.

@ElizaDee

By signing you up to everything they can think of.

Not stalking perhaps but potentially very upsetting.

@ElizaDee I think dollydaydream114 just neatly answered that question.

I have been stalked via internet. It wasn't pleasant.

That said if you ticked a box somewhere to say that they will send group communication then it would not be a breach and this is how companies and schools get around it.

Nope. That doesn't imply that your email address will be shared.

There's a BCC option for a reason.

How do people stalk you through your email address? you can use email addresses to find social media accounts etc

Adding to that, most people’s email addresses are their full name, or can be used to find their full name, which other parents wouldn’t necessarily have known, then they can then google the name to find any info online about you

Definitely a breach and definitely annoying. You should complain and they should send out an apology email to everyone affected. They should also take steps to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Yes thats a breach.

Something like that could potentially have been an issue for dh (he is a teacher). A student at ds's old school had a father who worked in mental health with volatile patients. Another was a police officer. All had valid reasons for people not having their personal email addresses.

Ok thanks.

It is a breach but only a minor one. Point if out to the school and they should report themselves.

The consensus seems to be telling me this is a breach so I will mention it. I’m not concerned about people having my email address and I won’t suffer as a result, this wasn’t my point though.

They are sloppy and getting sloppier and I don’t know if they even realise they might have done something wrong.

If I’ve ticked a box to say group emails are ok I haven’t realised it and I’d rather opt out.

What’s weird is that we have an app that they can message us all on and we only see our own section even if it’s an all parent message, I’ve no idea why they didn’t use that.

Definitely a breach - someone in my company did this and we did have to report it.

Reply with a polite comment.

An individual I know had her details shared accidently by a school in exactly the same was as this and she was a local GP - she had 3 or 4 people contact her directly as a result - asking for medical advice so completely inappropriate on a personal email. Someone else in the same group was contacted by another parent via email about an incident at school and it all got really nasty.

Yes it's a breach, whether or not you personally would care doesn't stop it from being a breach. What if there's a handful of hunbots on that list, you can imagine they'd be scraping up all those prime leads for endless MLM garbage? Can't imagine everyone would be happy then

I’m not concerned about people having my email address and I won’t suffer as a result, this wasn’t my point though.

I know. It was mine. You asked if others thought you should report it, and my answer was dependent on whether you cared.