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BANNING VISITOR BOOKS from heritage sites in Ireland was a disproportionate approach to data privacy, according to the Data Protection Commission (DPC).
Earlier today, it was reported that the Office of Public Works banned heritage sites such as Dublin Castle, Kilmainham Gaol and Muckross House from using visitor books due to data protection concerns.
The DPC has since stated that this may not be a necessary move. The ban was introduced at the beginning of this year’s tourism season, according to The Irish Times.
“The DPC advocates a ‘common sense’ and risk-based approach to data protection and it would appear that this practice may be a disproportionate approach to data protection principles,” a spokesperson for the DPC told TheJournal.ie.
“GDPR only applies to the processing of personal data which form part of a filing system. It is not clear that a visitor book necessarily constitutes a ‘filing system’ as per Article 4 (6) of the GDPR.”
Article 4 (6) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) states that a filing system is “any structured set of personal data which are accessible according to specific criteria, whether centralised, decentralised or dispersed on a functional or geographical basis”.
Low risk information
There is general consensus in the industry that the move by the OPW was excessive and unnecessary.
Data protection consultant at Ambit Compliance, Gillian Traynor, told TheJournal.ie that banning visitor books seems like an unnecessary move.
“The GDPR in no way forbids a visitor book. It is a risk-based framework which demands that organisations apply control measures to risks facing personal data controlled by them,” said Traynor.
She added that the personal data shared in visitor books is “generally very low risk” and other measures could be taken to protect this data by asking visitors not to include their address.
She also noted that people are not obliged to share any data in visitor books as they are entirely optional to sign.
“To come within the remit of the law, a paper-based record must be part of a relevant filing system,” Traynor said.
“So it is debatable whether it is a filing system or not. Whether one could find someone’s name in a legible fashion to identify them is not clear,” she added.
Hugh Jones, chief privacy officer at data protection solution company Sytorus, said removing visitor books is a “completely excessive” move.
“Adopting a solution that looks like an overcompensation undermines their credibility,” Jones said.
It would be depriving visitors of an opportunity to express their excitement or gratitude about a place.
He added that unless it is not optional to include a name and address when leaving a comment, there should be no risk of data privacy being breached.
Clare Copas, founder of MonClare Data Protection Consultancy, said that this move was “a bit drastic”.
“Instead of banning the visitor books, they could have put signs up to make people aware that by writing their name, they are making this information publicly available,” Copas said.
“It was a bit drastic. I feel that they don’t have the full grasp of the legislation.”
The Office of Public Works was contacted for comment on this issue but had not responded by the time of publication.
What is GDPR?
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was put in place in May 2018 in EU legislation. It is a set of rules aimed to give EU citizens more control over their personal data.
It requires a higher standard of data protection for EU personal data than was previously in place. Companies that process this data must abide by EU processing standards in order to avoid fines of up to €20 million.
EU data is no longer permitted to be processed in countries outside of the EU that are not on the list of approved countries. Countries that are allowed include the US, Japan and Israel.
Under the GDPR, personal data is data that relates to or can identify a living person such as your name, number, bank details and medical history.
This is not the first instance of over-cautiousness concerning GDPR. Last month, it was reported that the GPO had removed all of its public bins due to fears of breaching data privacy law.
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I’m not usually one to heap praise on the government but everyone is a genius in hindsight.
I felt they reacted very well in the beginning to an unknown and terrifying virus.
I had expected the usual approach of lagging behind and reacting to developments but they got ahead of it and everything was taken care of.
If they spent or bought too much stock? Better than too little in the face of the unknown.
Toibin is trying to score easy points.
His suggestion that anyone could have come up with the app is laughable.
@Keniby: I feel Ireland was poor in the beginning tbh, especially watching from Vietnam where things got strict as soon as they noticed China was quiet on saying anything and a normal life was had for a good year while most of the world was locked down. Ireland felt very reactionary and never proactive during the early stages. It didn’t feel like the government knew the severity of what was going on until March and NPHET became the real leaders. But compared to countries like the US and Brazil, Ireland did well enough. The population knowing from how bad we had it with diseases in the recent past and getting vaccinated really helped in the long run too.
Anyone who has worked in the IT sector will have seen this before, somebody with no knowledge or experience saying “it should be easy to build the website/app/system” without any deep understanding of what is actually involved.
@Jack Johnson: exactly! Plus its not just the app, its all the backend of the infrastructure. I thought it would have been considered money well spent at the time for what we got vs the cost
Awhhh I’ll miss someone asking how I am every morning
A fella goes to his doctor for a check up and ask’s how long do you think this covid will last, and he replys how the hell would i know i’m a doctor not a politician.
appli pour berger.. les moutons doivent suivre sinon..
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