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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

My contact details being shared with DS’s class

175 replies

NameChangerDanger · 14/10/2019 14:16

DS recently started primary school. There’s a WhatsApp parents group that I’m a member of, but have no inclination to actively use.

A message has come through from one of the parents saying that it’s assumed we’re all ok with our details being compiled into a list and put into book bags Hmm

Another parent has asked what details this will include and it’s child’s full name, parent’s full name, contact number and e-mail address. It’s going to be sent out tomorrow or the next day unless people actively object.

I am really quite annoyed by this. My mobile number is obviously available via the WhatsApp group, but I haven’t given my e-mail address out to everyone on the list or given permission for this list to be created. AIBU?

OP posts:
ThatMuppetShow · 14/10/2019 16:49

I find it quite hilarious that parents nowadays cannot function without using social media and IT. heavens above!

what a stupid comment, especially coming from a poster writing on an internet forum of all places Grin

Why on earth should we not use tools that make our life easier exactly? It's cheaper, less intrusive and more convenient to communicate via internet, calling someone a snowflakes because they don't use a pigeon or a courier is a bit stupid don't you think?

GeneticTest · 14/10/2019 16:53

arthur exactly!

Security services people are not keen for our home address to be shared generally unless necessary.

There are parents at my kids school who wish my DH was dead... I really rather not give them my address & phone number!

Doyoureallyneedtoask · 14/10/2019 16:56

Such WhatsApp groups are only useful for stealth boasts & bullying.

Maybe in your group this is the case.

In the groups I am on, the WhatsApp groups are very useful for homework help and general information about the class. As many parents are working and do not see each other at the school gates, having other parents contact details are very useful to arrange playdates and birthdays too.

Rachelover60 · 14/10/2019 16:57

The other mothers should know better than sharing phone numbers.
E-mails are OK because you don't have to read them and, if you do, you can delete and block. In your place I would definitely delete and block!

Whatsapp sounds quite dangerous in the extreme, in the less extreme I'd say, "Not appropriate". (I never joined btw and am glad I didn't).

ThatMuppetShow · 14/10/2019 16:58

Whatsapp sounds quite dangerous in the extreme

Confused

some posters are puzzling.

RiftGibbon · 14/10/2019 16:59

There are better ways to do this. List the child's first name. List a parent by first name. Include a means of contact. That's all you need if you absolutely MUST have a contact list.

For things like Christmas fair, summer things, volunteers etc there is a group set up by the Parents Association.

greathat · 14/10/2019 17:00

How does the organising parent have this info to share?

coconuttelegraph · 14/10/2019 17:03

The other mothers should know better than sharing phone numbers

Why? Most people know little about GDPR ime and care even less, in day to day life I don't think people give a second thought to setting up whatsapp groups for all kinds of reasons. Although I have yet to experience the whole class school whatsapp group so that is by no means a universal feature of being a school parent

Cohle · 14/10/2019 17:06

I think this is a bit of an overreaction. It's handy to be able to contact other parents and you were given the opportunity to opt o it if you had concerns.

poshme · 14/10/2019 17:12

Well I've just read a bbc article about jack monroe who has lost £5000 because someone got hold of her mobile number.
They then get the number ported on to a new SiM and use that for 2 factor authentication to hack bank
Stuff etc.
Giving complete strangers your name, address, phone number email Address & kids full name & date of Birth seems like a gift to scammers.

BruceFoxton · 14/10/2019 17:13

Where did the parent get the information from? There are real safety concerns about information being handed out without the consent of the individual parent - we have a number of domestic violence cases and people with court orders who would genuinely be in danger if their ex-p got that information. As a school we cannot share that information without consent and we would get our butt fined off us if this were reported as a breach of data.

Busy77 · 14/10/2019 17:18

Unless it's a reason for safety why wouldn't you want to share your details? It makes whoever is organising stuff a million times easier and surely your child benefits from this? There's one parent in our class who refuses the WhatsApp and as a result is either forgotten or someone has to consciously remember to tell her. So annoying.

CosmiaGreen · 14/10/2019 17:18

@poshme

This is the story...

Jack Monroe says she has lost about £5,000 after her phone number was hijacked and re-activated on another Sim card.

The criminals were then able to receive her two-factor authentication messages and access her bank and payment accounts.

The bestselling food writer tweeted she was "paranoid about security" and already had strong measures in place.

A privacy campaigner said the industry had failed to address "Simjacking".

Ms Monroe tweeted she was "white-hot angry" and had been told although she should get her phone number back soon, the money "will take longer to recover".

"The money stolen has run into thousands of pounds - I'm a self-employed freelancer and I have to absolutely hustle for every single pound I earn. And someone has just helped themselves to around five thousand of them," she tweeted.

Ms Monroe is a best-known for her low-cost recipes and her support for anti-poverty campaigns.

In 2017, she successfully sued the right-wing commentator Katie Hopkins for libel.

Simjacking, also known as Simswapping, is when criminals port a phone number over to a new Sim card, which they can then use as if it was their own.

They do this by posing as a customer who wishes to move to a different mobile provider but keep their existing phone number.

While mobile phone operators often request personal information to complete the request, this can be data already in the public domain - Ms Monroe's date of birth, for example, was on Wikipedia.

Sometimes individuals working for mobile operators or phone shops can be bribed into making the switch.

Mobile phone shop staff 'enabling scams'
Often the first clue for the victim is when their own phone stops working.

Increasingly, banks and other services will use a text message to send a code as an extra layer of security to a registered phone number before allowing access to an account.

One critic of the industry's response to the crime is a privacy campaigner who used to work for the GSMA, the trade body that represents mobile operators.

Pat Walshe, now managing director of Privacy Matters, told BBC News the scale of the problem in the UK was currently unknown but there were cases of Simjacking from around the world.

"The industry has failed to address this problem for a number of years," he said.

"It's not trivial [to carry out a Simjack attack] but someone could do it easily enough."

Mr Walshe said victims should report the crime to their mobile provider, Action Fraud and the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

"I think Jack Monroe's case should now force the ICO to investigate whether mobile operators are meeting their obligations to safeguard services and data under telecom privacy rules, in addition to the [EU data protection law] GDPR," he said.

The GSMA has championed an alternative mobile identity authenticator called Mobile Connect.

BBC News has contacted the ICO, which deals with data protection issues.

Jack Monroe has also been contacted.

available data

phone no
dob

hacked into bank account

TheHoundsofLove · 14/10/2019 17:19

This is perfectly normal in my son's class and I've found the list to be really useful several times. But, I don't think it should be assumed that you are okay with your details being shared - the onus should be on you opting in and not the other way round. Our list was passed around at our first parents' information evening and it would have been relatively discreet to just not add specific details. Everyone was/is happy to be included (we're in the third year of it now), so we have a full list of names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. The list was then compiled and sent home with the children, which I had no problem with at all.

coconuttelegraph · 14/10/2019 17:20

Well I've just read a bbc article about jack monroe who has lost £5000 because someone got hold of her mobile number

I read that too, it wasn't quite as straight forward as just knowing her mobile number, it it was that easy we'd all be at risk by giving out our numbers. Unless you are also free with all of your other security information I don't think anyone needs to worry unduly.

Amanduh · 14/10/2019 17:23

So much drama for a small issue

CosmiaGreen · 14/10/2019 17:25

@ThatMuppetShow what IS stupid is this...

Parents using IT and not knowing how to use it safely.They are putting themselves and their kids at risk. They have no idea of how criminals use their data and how little data is needed to find someone's ID and do all sorts of damage.

People are incredibly stupid when it comes to online safety as shown by the number of people who don't use privacy settings on facebook (for example) and allow anyone to see their entire birth date.

HugoSpritz · 14/10/2019 17:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ThatMuppetShow · 14/10/2019 17:28

Parents using IT and not knowing how to use it safely.

this has nothing to do with IT, it's about accepting - or refusing - to share contact details....Whilst already on a whatsapp group no less.

NellWilsonsWhiteHair · 14/10/2019 17:41

This thread makes me very grateful to have DC in a school where the majority of parents are v disaffected. Grin

I don’t miss any info about trips or non uniform days. The school tell me --over and over and over again- through a million different channels.

Shortwinter · 14/10/2019 17:44

I do get the safety concerns.

However I got on a WhatsApp parents group recently, and I know I shouldn’t have been given the phone numbers of the parents but suddenly my child was included in loads of things and it’s made a massive difference. He’s special needs which in some ways should make us more concerned about safety but the social support is priceless.

Why don’t schools perhaps acknowledge this issue and put on the forms, do you want your phone number passed on to other parents in their class? In the same way they do about photos. Otherwise is gets started by parents and if you come in late, it’s incredibly hard to break into.

TragicallyUnbeyachted · 14/10/2019 17:49

YABU to be this worked up about it, because they've asked whether you object. A|l you have to do is say "no, I'm not comfortable with that" and they won't do it. You could have done that in less time than it took to start this thread.

(Mind you, under GDPR they have an obligation to obtain active consent, not just "didn't actively object" before sharing personal information with third parties. You might want to point that out on the WhatsApp thread)

dayslikethese1 · 14/10/2019 17:50

For the PP who asked about emails being personal data, personal data is defined in Art. 4 (1) of GDPR as "any information which is related to an identified or identifiable natural person". Different pieces of information, which collected together can lead to the identification of a particular person, also constitute personal data. So if you can identify an individual by their email address or using that together with other info there then it counts as personal data.

Link eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679&from=EN#d1e1404-1-1

Bringonspring · 14/10/2019 17:52

Just make sure that your child doesn’t miss out on parties etc (get another mum to tell you) as most of the party invited I get are on paperless post (eg need your e mail address)

jay55 · 14/10/2019 17:53

Surely anyone in the group can already contact other parents. And anyone not in the group probably doesn't want to.