Firms probed for use of private investigators
The Data Protection Commissioner also warned it will “vigorously pursue and prosecute” employers and recruitment firms who effectively force prospective staff to request data records from gardaí and give it to them.
In its 2014 annual report, the commission said queries were up from 12,000 in 2013 to 13,500 in 2014, while investigations were opened into 960 complaints last year, compared to 910 in 2013.
In an interview with the Irish Examiner, the new commissioner, Helen Dixon, rejected claims of “light touch” regulation of the large tech multinationals and said there was “constant tension” with these firms.
She said developments in Europe were awaited in terms of decisions on the mass transfer of personal data held by Irish-located multinationals to US intelligence agencies and the transfer of airline passenger data, while the High Court here was due to rule on Irish data retention laws.
Publishing her first annual report, Ms Dixon said her staff was expanding to 50 people by the end of September, up from 29, with a new office in Dublin next month, thanks to a doubling of its budget.
She said 2014 was “very significant” in that, for the first time, the directors of a company — in this case private investigators — were prosecuted for breaching data protection laws.
The investigation also threw up a wider issue. The commission investigated at least 12 credit unions in 2013 and nine in 2014, mainly for their use of private investigators. “We uncovered significant issues across the sector in terms of abuse of personal data.”
Assistant commissioner Tony Delaney said they were looking “across the board at credit unions and the financial sector generally” but said they will now examine “insurance companies and law firms”.
Ms Dixon defended the traditional “engaged approach” the office had with tech multinationals: “I’m convinced it’s the only one that has led to real results and the only one that is viable in terms of managing data protection of the millions of users that these tech multinationals have. We have a relationship of trust.”
She said they worked proactively with them, examining proposed products to “head off” problems.
“It’s absolutely not light touch,” said Ms Dixon. “We have tension with the companies constantly. A lot of the recommendations that we would have made in audits or on an ongoing basis, they are not swallowed automatically by the tech multinationals. There’s an inconvenience for them in re-engineering products, so there is a constant tension.”
She said an audit they conducted on LinkedIn had not been published by the company, as was their right, but noted the gardaí had. She suggested they would be reviewing this matter.
Audits of Yahoo, Adobe, and Apple would commence in the autumn.
An employee of the HSE complained about the disclosure, on two occasions, of his salary details to his ex-wife.
He told the DPC that he discovered this during a court appearance in the summer of 2013 on maintenance issues. He said that, in court, his ex-wife provided exact details from his payslips.
That December, she went back to court and produced a copy of his P60 and salary details for the previous four months.
The HSE told the DPC the payroll department had received a number of court orders directing it to make maintenance payments to the employee’s ex-wife.
It said numerous queries were raised by accountants and tax professionals acting for the woman, including one seeking a payslip.
The DPC ruled that the HSE breached the Data Protection Acts.
In July 2014, a prospective tenant complained about the collection of bank details, PPS numbers and copies of utility bills by a letting agency when applying to rent a property. She believed that if she did not supply all this information upfront her application would not be seriously considered.
The DPC told the agency that it could see no basis for collecting all this information at application or property-viewing stage.
The agency ceased such requests upfront and said it would only do so if a tenant accepted a property. The complainant was satisfied with the outcome.
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