EQC privacy breach affects 67,000 people
new-zealand-labour-party
Mon Mar 25 2013 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)
EQC privacy breach affects 67,000 people
Monday, 25 March 2013, 2:21 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party
Lianne Dalziel
Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Spokesperson
25 March 2013
EQC privacy breach affects 67,000 people
Gerry Brownlee must take full responsibility for the mishandling of the massive EQC privacy breach, which is seven times the figure admitted and of a scale unprecedented in New Zealand, says Labour’s Earthquake Recovery spokesperson, Lianne Dalziel.
“I have been approached over the weekend and told that the data released by EQC was not limited to 9700 individual properties, but involved details relating to 67,745 individual properties.
“EQC has tried to deny that the figure is seven times worse than admitted. The truth is no one at EQC or the minister’s office checked the email thoroughly enough to realise the data was sitting behind the figures on a different sheet than the one they relied on for the 9700 figure. That is gross incompetence and a political scandal.
“I also know that people other than the mistaken recipient saw this information before they alerted him that the email had been sent to him in error and he agreed to delete the information. One of those people contacted me over the weekend.
“It is time for the Minister to take full ministerial responsibility. He needs to say when he first knew of the true extent of this breach. And he needs to disclose the full extent of the details that attaches to each of these home addresses so the public has the full information.
“He must also undertake to ensure that EQC will provide each person affected with a simple status report on their claim so they know where they stand.
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“Gerry Brownlee is not taking this seriously. On Friday he said this was similar to someone putting the wrong address on an envelope.
“Modern technology has enabled agencies to move huge amounts of data that can be electronically copied and manipulated. That’s why data protection systems are so vital. That’s why we have privacy laws. EQC’s policies are clearly not working.
“This is the Government’s problem. EQC is not the first such agency to inadvertently disclose large amounts of personal information on a spread sheet. This is exactly what happened in the ACC case. Why have lessons not been learned?”
ENDS
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