viva la data

Has someone you trusted ever shared your secret?

I’m sure we’ve all experienced that sense of betrayal, when a friend shared some information that we told them in confidence.

You might still remember how you felt at the time, perhaps angry? Embarrassed? Betrayed? And I’m sure most of those relationships were never the same again. Indiscretions like that can damage relationships for good and we can end up no longer trusting our friend or sometimes we might decide to end the friendship completely.

Now image something similar happening in your workplace. Let’s say some sensitive information, about one of the families you work with, is shared with someone it shouldn’t have been. No doubt that family would feel embarrassed, angry or betrayed. They might question the trust they place in you to look after their children.

When we collect and store people's information we owe it them to look after it. To make sure it’s safe and only seen by people who need to see it. If people who work or volunteer in your school or setting don’t have any awareness of data privacy, mistakes can easily made.

If you would like me to run a data privacy awareness training session in your workplace, give me a shout.

I got a new book today, appropriately for International Women’s Day, about the gender data gap. ‘Invisible Women – Exposing data bias in a world designed for men’ by Caroline Criado Perez.

I’m sure it won’t come as a big surprise that data has historically been gathered from the male viewpoint and when you think more about this, and the influence this data has on everything from government policy to product design, you can easily see the problems this can create.

Perez talks about small issues such as the temperature always being too low for women in office buildings, (I am one of those women) but it could also be as dangerous as women not being diagnosed with heart attacks as their symptoms are ‘atypical’.

I read an article from Melinda Gates a few years ago about the gender data gap and an initiative she was funding to improve data that was collected and used, she gave a really simple example of some countries not recording the birth of women which of course then leads to life-long implications such as not being able to go to school or vote but also means that their lives and the issues they face are hidden.

I’m a big believer in always remembering that there are people behind data and statistics but I need to question that even more because as Perez says ‘…when we say human, on the whole, we mean man.’

Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men

I love seeing data protection making mainstream news. It helps open up the conversation to the general public, who sometimes find it hard to see how such laws relate to them in a practical day to day way.

And for those of us who are so inclined, we get to have a good debate, in this instance if on-line retailers should indeed have to inform purchasers when gifts they bought are returned.

Any thoughts?

I am sure there must be a work around from those who said they need to do this.

Such interpretations of the law do nothing for data protection's PR and just encourage more eye rolling from the general public!

And note to my mum, if she is reading this, I loved the top you bought me, it was just too small – honest!

Customers informed when their gifts are being returned due to GDPR Customers returning unwanted Christmas gifts are being warned by online retailers that they will have to inform the original buyers of the returns due to changes in data protection laws.

School Data Breaches on the Rise

Interesting to see an increase in the number of data breaches reported to the ICO. I think this shows that more schools, and other organisations, are understanding what a breach is now and that they are dealing with such incidents with transparency.

It is so import that a data breach does not erode the level of trust that a school or childcare setting has worked hard to build. If you need help training staff to recognise and deal with a data breach, please give me shout.

The rising rate of school data security incidents post-GDPR | | EdExec The number of data breaches and security incidents reported by schools has risen dramatically since the introduction of GDPR. Are schools being targeted for their sensitive information, or is the risk of a large fine from the Information Commissioner's Office, and an increased awareness of responsib...