Mermaids Fine

[Mrsorganmorgan]

Just read on Twitter Mermaids fined £25,000 for giving out details.
Its trending.

The fine was to do with the unwitting publication of private details, because if the names of trans youth got into the hands of transphobes, those trans kids would be in danger. it's a - deserved - fine for what is, objectively, a mistake and an accident. the ICO even said when delivering the fine that they should have done better, bearing in mind the "vulnerable people it works with." thankfully, a $25k fine is apparently not gonna hugely impact their ability to support transgender youth.

Thats £25,000 that can't be used to damage young people. Im Delighted.

@ConcernedNineteen

The fine was to do with the unwitting publication of private details, because if the names of trans youth got into the hands of transphobes, those trans kids would be in danger. it's a - deserved - fine for what is, objectively, a mistake and an accident. the ICO even said when delivering the fine that they should have done better, bearing in mind the "vulnerable people it works with." thankfully, a $25k fine is apparently not gonna hugely impact their ability to support transgender youth.

Ffs the details were all over the internet, every page was backed up on various sites, it's still visible on cache. And i can think of three archive sites that have all of it. But you think the GC will endanger the kids? Not that being fucking stupid and irresponsible for leaving that stuff up for actual YEARS for anyone to find very very easily might endanger the kids?

Are you 12? Asking for a friend

This is a UK site so most of us have the £ sign on their keyboard.
I guess I don’t understand why the trustees (who I’m pretty sure had no professional credentials) were sent all this private info in the first place.
Even before the leaving it unsecured on the internet for years and years.

Excellent although that's taken a bloody long time hasn't it? Or have there been multiple breaches...

sorry, I'm used to dealing with Americans, hence the instinctive jump to the $ rather than the adjacent £. and I'm not talking about the GC crowd, I'm talking about the out-and-proud transphobes, as in the ones who also tend to be homophobes, racists, and sexists. I'm not suggesting a GC would attack a minor, I'm suggesting a neo-nazi would if the minor was also of a minority.
also why do you know three archive sites storing information on minors? admittedly, making the information publicly available, even accidently, puts the kids at risk, but surely archiving it well, well after the fact does the same thing but more so, since now it's publicly known that the data breach occurred. having sensitive information being public while nobody knows is irresponsible, sure, but so is hosting that information once people know.

Given what the info was, it should have been higher

It's probably a combination of their total willingness to work with the ICO (the body issuing the fine), the improvements they've already made (according to said body), or the "important work" they do (again, as per the ICO).
Source

And the fact Mermaids spent on lawyers to negotiate down. £158k of legal costs for this in the accounts to March 2020. Page 32.

Does Emma Watson know where her money went?

Found this little spat on Twitter

What a great use of donor funds. £200k of totally avoidable costs. Green must have been a stellar IT consultant

Mall have covered it ; www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9768875/Trans-charity-Mermaids-fined-25k-CEO-published-emails-parents-discussing-children.html

also why do you know three archive sites storing information on minors

I know 3 archive sites, I know when I read about this elsewhere at the time it blew up that lots of posters were archiving it. It was archived so no one could deny it had happened (simply because it was so serious)

admittedly, making the information publicly available, even accidently puts the kids at risk, but surely archiving it well, well after the fact does the same thing but more so

You think it was an accident, I think it was deliberate 🤷‍♀️ we shall never agree. Those kids were at risk for actual years but no it's the archives that need purging? Which they could have been, I dont know. Has anything happened? I'm pretty sure that if it had that would be all over the news.

since now it's publicly known that the data breach occurred. having sensitive information being public while nobody knows is irresponsible, sure, but so is hosting that information once people know

You call the original breach irresponsible, I call it criminal, either way the times newspaper told mermaids about a month before they published to give them time to remove it. Yet on the day the story broke, everything was still there. In a month mermaids had done the sum of fuck all to help those kids, but of course the blame never lands on the teflon coated.

@FemaleAndLearning

Found this little spat on Twitter

Eh?

Female’s screen shot is interesting.
The poster @mrsshrew is replying to @FierceMum both very active on Twitter and supporters of Mermaids.
@Mrs says
“I also noticed, on page 20 of the decision notice, that it was mentioned that mumsnet had taken the data down. Weirdly no other mention of them in the notice - suspect they were redacted out elsewhere, which might mean a hammer is coming to them. 2/“

But the ICO decision notice is online, and searchable. “Parent” appears 3 times. “Mum” does not appear.
The poster just hates us and is just imagining the reference. And other posters then join in hoping mumsnet gets in trouble.

Here's their report: ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-taken/mpns/2620171/mermaids-mpn-20210705.pdf

Pretty damning

So you can see that Mumsnet doesn't get a mention. But a lie will get halfway round the internet before my kids have finished breakfast

Episode thanks for clarifying, wow they seriously just made that up about Mumsnet?

This is pg 20 - I couldn't find any mention of Mumsnet. It refers to Groups.IO - the email service used by Mermaids.

Obviously Mumsnet could be in the redacted section, but I don't see how a random Twitter poster would have access to such sensitive material.

@FemaleAndLearning

Episode thanks for clarifying, wow they seriously just made that up about Mumsnet?

A couple of years ago, a mermaids supporter said that she knew of two young trans people who had killed themselves as a result of women's efforts to get people to complete the GRA consultation. A load of bollocks thankfully but never underestimate the depths to which TRAs will go

Wow! I doubt it is in the redacted section and anyone the person on Twitter states Mumsnet is in the unredacted section. I am so naive I just don't think people lie like that.