Interesting debate so far....
I'm surprised the Commissioner's Office has changed its stance on obtaining
written consent for internet publishing of staff contact details.
If it helps anyone, our policy at Devon County Council, based on previous
advice received from Phil Boyd and Team is to only publish information about
employees (or anyone else) with their written informed consent, and it is
made clear to them that their information will be published on the internet,
and made available to the public world-wide.
Another reason for this, apart from the DP requirement (Principle 8) is that
some members of staff may have good reasons for information about them to be
kept confidential, such as where they may be at risk of serious harm from
ex-partners living overseas or elsewhere.
We have had no problems with this approach. Wherever possible we do
encourage webpage publishers to use generic email addresses rather than
individual names, to assist in keeping the webpages accurate and up to date.
On another note, we're often approached by external organisations requesting
our staff name, work address, email and telephone lists - in case they need
to contact any of us. Some of these organisations are working in
partnership with us such as Health providers or other local councils. Here
again we have said that we will only release personal information where
appropriate staff have consented to such disclosures. Other organisations
do not need to know the contact information for every member of staff in
every single office (we employ around 25,000 employees, including teachers)
and would probably be processing excessive information! Goodness knows how
they will keep it up to date.
Do others have similar types of requests, and what approach have you taken?
Would be interested to know.
Gill Smith
Data Protection Officer
Devon County Council
www.devon-cc.gov.uk
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