Fiona Parker reports: A massive blunder has seen the sensitive personal details of 15,000 Hackney residents – including address, sexuality and rent accounts – leaked online. Bungling council officers have also revealed the age and housing benefit entitlement of Hackney Homes tenants and leaseholders in the botched Freedom of Information request, which was inadvertently published…
Category: Non-U.S.
UK: PC Katie Murray jailed for leaking Cregan and drugs info to sister and ex-lover
BBC reports: A PC who passed on intelligence about police killer Dale Cregan and planned drugs raids to her sister and drug-dealing former lover has been jailed. Katie Murray, 30, of Dunkirk Street in Droylsden, accessed police computers to get the confidential information. She was found guilty of breaching the Data Protection Act and conspiracy…
Scottish Widows data protection error ‘costs customer £50k’
Tessa Norman reports: A Scottish Widows customer claims the provider has cost him £50,000 after it breached the Data Protection Act by sending details of his pension to his ex-wife. The provider has offered the customer, who cannot be named for legal reasons, £500 in compensation for sending the information to an unauthorised address. But…
50,000 Reasons for Employees to Think Twice Before Taking Their Employer’s Copyright Works and Confidential Information
Lisa Egan and Caroline Judd of K&L Gates LLP write: Federal Court of Australia Decision in Leica Geosystems Pty Ltd v Koudstaal (No 3) [2014] FCA 1129 An ex-employee was recently ordered to pay his former employer AUD50,000 in damages after the Federal Court (Court) held that the employee had infringed copyright and breached his employment agreement and duty…
AU: Steven Willmott’s Woolworths lawsuit over identity theft
In light of all the data breaches, I’m surprised we haven’t seen more protests/appeals like this one in Australia. Kim Stephens reports: When Steven Willmott applied for a job as a console operator at a Woolworths service station in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland town of Beerwah in December, 2013, he objected to the online application…
School bus smartcard security breach
Joanne Clague reports: Transport authorities have admitted that a parent was able to view another customer’s information when they purchased a Go School card online. The smartcards must be used by children travelling to school from January 7. It costs 25p per journey but children who are entitled to free school meals will not have to pay….