Breach of Data Protection - Human Error or Given The Brush-Off

[NotmylastRolo]

We have had our personal e-mail address shown along with about 100 other persons in an e-mail sent out by our local council.

When we complained to the council it was brushed off as "human error" and we were verbally apologised to on the phone. The e-mail was not of an overly sensitive nature (it was about late payment to contractors).

Has this happened to anyone else? We are not sure whether we have been brushed off or "human error" is considered an acceptable response.

It probably was human error. You see it every so often. An individual sends an email to a mailing list but puts them all in the "To" field instead of BCCing them all or sending individual emails.

You can notify the Information Commissioner who may issue an enforcement notice. You will not get any compensation unless you can show that this breach has caused you damage.

Thanks for responding. We were not looking for compensation. It has happened 3 times to us by the same department and the frustration is the worst part as they do not acknowledge any error (apart from the human one!).

If it has happened three times I would complain formally to the council. They need proper procedures and training to make this a rare event, not a common one.

If it's happened three times in the same department I think they are brushing you off. You may not have suffered any damage but it suggests that their control environment is very lax, I would report them to the ICO, if only because they will be forced to focus on improving their processes. Next time they make a "human error" the result may not be so benign. I would also complain formally to their Data Protection Officer, they should investigate and recommend processes improvements especially as this looks like it is a systemic issue.