Dear All,
You have to wonder. If someone was really bad and they wanted to find someone in "hiding" would they not do the same? We may find this incident relatively humorous ( because it relates to being amorous) but the underlying principle is deadly serious.
If I report a crime, if I see the top crime boss do XYZ, how certain can I be that this information will be held securely? How can we reassure people that their information will not be accessed or disclosed to the people who do not need to know it?
I appreciate that this officer (and others reported earlier in the year) have been caught, so the system works to some extent, but 150 times in one month may suggest that audit and control procedures need to be reviewed. In this case, the person may have been caught because they were sloppy (150 times is hard to hide on any information log), but what about people who are more sophisticated?
I suppose this also raises the same question for any organisation. How well are we maintaining our systems to make sure they are not abused in the same way?
Best,
Lawrence
-----Original Message-----
From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ibrahim Hasan
Sent: 05 November 2010 10:04
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [data-protection] Chill Out - Find Love
A female community support officer who used police records to check out potential romantic partners has been fined £1,100.
Magistrates in North Tyneside heard that Lucy Bevan illegally accessed the Northumbria Police confidential database hundreds of times.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-11697563
Ibrahim Hasan
www.actnow.org.uk
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