If it is causing an embarrassment to the data subject, you could say that it
may in fact cause distress to the data subject and I was under the
impression we have an obligation to try and comply with any such requests.
It may be that we cannot comply with such a request but a suitable
explanation of why that decision was reached must be given to the
individual.
You state that you probably obtained the information from the press - is it
therefore a public document having already been published?
Doreen Broom
Access to Information Officer
[log in to unmask]
Tel: 01835 826516 (Direct Line)
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chris Catton [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 27 January 2003 11:30
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Data subject request to remove details from website
>
> One of our European offices has recently been contacted by a person who
> is named in a number of our published documents. The person is now unhappy
> that their name is appearing on the internet library which contains all
> our published documents and would like it removed. The person has been
> featured in (amongst other publications) the Amnesty International Report
> - our Annual Report which is published worldwide, simultaneously in print
> and on the web in four languages and is also translated into a number of
> other languages. The item is not featured in any way on a front page of
> the website, but is in our "library" where the data subject would have to
> make a text search to find the personal data embedded in the body of a
> large document.
>
> We can obviously not remove the person's name from the print copy and, if
> we remove the name from the web copy only, it ceases to be a facsimile of
> the published print copy. I cannot say at this stage where the
> information we used to describe the person's case came from (whether from
> the individual in person, from contacts or family members or from press
> reports), but having examined the published copy, it looks like something
> which was taken from a press report.
>
> Has anyone else faced requests of this nature to selectively remove
> information from a publication which is not inaccurate, but constitutes an
> inconveneniece or embarrasment to the data subject?
>
> I don't think we are under any obligation to remove the information and,
> if it is technically feasible we might consider replacing the name with
> initials as a gesture of goodwill, but I think it is an interesting
> question.
>
> Regards
>
> Chris Catton
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> All archives of messages are stored permanently and are
> available to the world wide web community at large at
> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/data-protection.html
> If you wish to leave this list please send the command
> leave data-protection to [log in to unmask]
> All user commands can be found at : -
> www.jiscmail.ac.uk/user-manual/summary-user-commands.htm
> (all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please)
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
**********************************************************************
This email is privileged, confidential and subject to copyright.
Any unauthorised use or disclosure of its content is prohibited.
The views expressed in this communication may not necessarily
be the views held by Scottish Borders Council
**********************************************************************
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All archives of messages are stored permanently and are
available to the world wide web community at large at
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/data-protection.html
If you wish to leave this list please send the command
leave data-protection to [log in to unmask]
All user commands can be found at : -
www.jiscmail.ac.uk/user-manual/summary-user-commands.htm
(all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
