14 DAY TRIAL // The United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined another council for exposing the personal details of individuals. This time, the council of Islington, a London borough, has been fined £70,000 ($109,000 / €82,800).
According to the ICO, the Islington Council inadvertently released the details of 2,000 residents in freedom of information documents.
The data, published on the What Do They Know website on June 26 and June 27, was contained in three spreadsheets. The files have been publicly accessible until July 14, when one of the site’s administrators discovered the sensitive information.
The files contained information regarding residents’ housing needs, and they even detailed whether or not the people in question had a history of mental illness or if they had been victims of domestic abuse.
The council wanted to show only statistics on how housing was allocated to residents, but the spreadsheet tables stored source data which contained personal information.
The details were hidden, but anyone with the proper know-how could have easily accessed them.
Despite being notified of the error shortly after the first document was published, the council failed to take measures and the other two spreadsheets were made available with the same type of sensitive data.
“This mistake not only placed sensitive personal information relating to residents at risk, but also the highlighted the lack of training and expertise within the council,” ICO Head of Enforcement, Stephen Eckersley, said.
“Councils are trusted with sensitive personal information, and residents are right to expect it to be handled in a proper way. Unfortunately, in this case that did not happen, and Islington Council must now explain to residents how it will stop these mistakes being repeated,” Eckersley added.