Utter Contempt For Everyone
Strong words I hear you shout! Can this ‘simply brilliant’ landlord really have utter contempt for everyone, surely not?
It started with a Data Breach
A simple letter to inform the forty-plus residents of Maureen Christian House (Oxford) that GreenSquareAccord weren’t going to send out a newsletter. The newsletter that Rachel Crownshaw had agreed to publish monthly but had failed to do on numerous occasions. For the background you can read about GreenSquareAccord’s newsletters here, and the data breach here.
In one paragraph and two links you’ve learnt that GreenSquareAccord failed to provide updates to their residents, and were then unable to distribute a simple letter (informing residents that there wouldn’t be a newsletter) without causing a data breach.
GreenSquareAccord react
Now to be honest they didn’t really react; there was an email to one resident in which the incident was dismissed as it wasn’t a big breach, and their Data Protection team and their Executive Director of Governance Sophie Atkinson ignored my emails and a written letter.
GreenSquareAccord Vs ICO
Having been ignored I contacted the ICO who were more concerned about this breach than Ruth Cooke’s simply brilliant team. The ICO thought that such a simple task as sending out a letter shouldn’t cause people’s full names to be shared. Perhaps like myself they were concerned that if GreenSquareAccord couldn’t manage this simple letter writing task they weren’t fit to handle all the other data points they collect.
The data points GreenSquareAccord collect
Name and title
Physical address
Email address
Telephone and mobile numbers
Finance data
Date and place of birth
Gender and sexuality
Ethnicity
Marital status
Criminal records and records of criminal allegation
Health data
Audio, video, CCTV and still photographic images
Records and references of employment
Biometric data
Cyberspace identifiers
Membership of trade union
Religious, political and philosophical beliefs
Vehicle registration number
Immigration and citizenship data
Next of kin, nominated representatives, children and family relationships
Location data
It is worrying that GreenSquareAccord hold all this data yet are unable to protect the first entry on the list.
The ICO responded
Here you can read the update and ICO response to this incredulous handling of data.
Time up and still GreenSquareAccord ignore the issues and their residents
Surely this simply brilliant landlord (who although woefully inept in so many areas) wouldn’t ignore a timeframe placed upon them by the ICO?
Surely the ICO have enough power to curtail providers who share customer data?
Surely having simply failed first time GreenSquareAccord are able to fix the issues to ensure it won’t happen again and update the concerned resident who reported the issue? Action taken, confidence restored and all, surely?
A big fat ‘No’!
GreenSquareAccord have ignored the ICO!
It seems that GreenSquareAccord have utter contempt for their residents, the data they hold and the ICO.
Is this why Housing Associations underperform the way they do, because governing oversight can just be ignored? Is there such a need for new housing that associations such as GreenSquareAccord can act with impunity?
How can and how will the ICO react in response to GreenSquareAccord’s blatant disregard?
As always, updates to follow…
