Do I have to give permission for gender data to be transferred or can I object?

[Snugglepumpkin]

A company I have to deal with are transferring assets from themselves to a new company.

They require my signed permission to transfer the personal data but although I've never been asked at some point in the past decade they have apparently decided to assign me a gender.

I do need to give permission for the rest of the data to be transferred because the new company will need it but do I have to give permission for this?

I never asked to have a gender, do not acknowledge it is a valid requirement for any company to hold on me & feel they are storing information that could be classed as political ideology which I don't think they are legally entitled to do.

Of course they mean sex but have removed that option (It's a printed form I have to fill out & post by Monday).

Am I entitled to refuse & complain that they are storing unnecessary information without my knowledge or permission - this is the first I've heard of it?
I guess this means they've assigned me to a gender without even asking me what it was.

I feel like signing it is pandering to those who believe in this nonsense & I refuse to support doing anything that will imply I accept gender is relevant or acceptable in a business transaction.

Doubt you'd have a leg to stand on since gender is a well-recognised synonym for sex, and even legislation uses the terms interchangeably.

@BlueberryCheezecake

Doubt you'd have a leg to stand on since gender is a well-recognised synonym for sex, and even legislation uses the terms interchangeably.

But you don't believe they are the same thing do you?

You can't possibly be arguing they are one the one hand and that they aren't on the other and thus encouraging an environment in which confusion reigns and you can just do whatever the fuck you like as it suits you, can you?

Surely not?

My understanding is there are limits on the data a data owner can hold.

The Information Commissioners Office has more on this

ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/principles/

At a glance
• The UK GDPR sets out seven key principles:
• Lawfulness, fairness and transparency
• Purpose limitation
• Data minimisation
• Accuracy
• Storage limitation
• Integrity and confidentiality (security)
• Accountability
• These principles should lie at the heart of your approach to processing personal data.

Both Accuracy and Integrity apply here, I would also say fairness and transparency applies.

If they need your signature in order to transfer the data you can refuse and ask for clarification, or for your data to be removed.

If their response is that 'gender' means sex, you could argue that based on the current political landscape and ideological stance taken by companies you think this breeches accuracy.

Very interesting to see what happens. Hopefully some GDPR experts will be along with more soon.

If they are using gender but mean sex then the question will have binary answers. Is it or does it allow other, non binary etc. If not binary it is assuming you have a belief in gender identity, which they have assumed on your behalf and I would cross it out, sign and date it and put I do not consent.

Special category data, defined by the ICO:

What is special category data?
The UK GDPR defines special category data as:
• personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin;
• personal data revealing political opinions;
• personal data revealing religious or philosophical beliefs;
• personal data revealing trade union membership;
• genetic data;
• biometric data (where used for identification purposes);
• data concerning health;
• data concerning a person’s sex life; and
• data concerning a person’s sexual orientation.

'Gender' could be argued to be under political opinions and philosophical beliefs.

More here (and the list for 'substantial public interest' is interesting)

ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/lawful-basis-for-processing/special-category-data/

@OhHolyJesus

Special category data, defined by the ICO:

What is special category data?
The UK GDPR defines special category data as:
• personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin;
• personal data revealing political opinions;
• personal data revealing religious or philosophical beliefs;
• personal data revealing trade union membership;
• genetic data;
• biometric data (where used for identification purposes);
• data concerning health;
• data concerning a person’s sex life; and
• data concerning a person’s sexual orientation.

'Gender' could be argued to be under political opinions and philosophical beliefs.

More here (and the list for 'substantial public interest' is interesting)

ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/lawful-basis-for-processing/special-category-data/

It is just a list of the data they will transfer

eg.
Name
d.o.b.
etc...

My personal information is not on this document but they already hold it.
I am just required to sign that they can pass over those pieces of info.

They have absolutely no genuine requirement to hold this information (it's not medical related etc..) & it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference if I was male or female.

I'll go & take a look at that link thanks :-)

UPDATE...

It turned out when I complained about it they don't even hold that information & they agreed to remove it from their documentation as it's irrelevant.

They also apologised for making me think they had assigned me a gender without my permission & accepted that it is not something they should do going forward except for the odd person who insists on having a gender on record.

I'm calling that a win :-)

Thanks @BlueberryCheezecake you pushed me to stand up for biological womens right to be recognised as distinct from transwomen offline for the first time.

Thanks for the update. Good result.