Data protection
Data protection … more fines, enforcement stepped up
In another case showing that, after a very slow start to any enforcement, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is now showing it has some teeth, and there are some perhaps rather unlikely recipients of fines (although perhaps not when judging criteria of likely breach and size of organization). The ICO has fined Surrey County Council the amount of £120,000.00 for a number of instances of mishandling of personal data. The most serious of the breaches involved distribution of very sensitive and confidential data about physical and mental health conditions held by the Social Care Department at surrey Council by email to a number of recipients by mistake, grouped by email. The recipients included all types of local businesses, including taxi companies and such like, altogether very embarrassing and distressing for the subjects of the leaked data.
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