Concern over residents’ details being put online
Opposition councillors are demanding answers after it was revealed that residents’ personal details are being published on a council website.
Cllr Nigel Ayre, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Heworth Without, is calling on the Council Leader to give assurances about the confidentiality of residents’ personal details after it was revealed that City of York Council’s online ‘Smarter York’ system allows the public to view all incidents reported and the name of who reported them.
The Council launched the new ‘app’ in March through the Smarter York website. It allows anybody with a smart phone to take a picture of issues on the streets such as littering or graffiti and send it, together with details of the location, to the authority.
Cllr Ayre commented:
“The consequences of putting the name of residents reporting issues into the public domain are obvious. If a resident contacts the Council about graffiti or littering, the perpetrator of that graffiti or littering can easily see who has reported them. Imagine a resident complaining about a gang of kids causing trouble outside their house, only for that gang to be able to go home and see who has reported them.
“We have no issue with the person reporting the problem getting access to and being able to track the information, but there are serious data protection issues in anyone else seeing that information. Residents should feel they can contact the Council in confidence without their details and the nature of their complaint being published on a website. It is wrong and it terms of data protection law could well be illegal as the data is being disclosed to other parties without the apparent consent of the individual”.
Cllr Nigel Ayre has submitted the following question for the meeting of Full Council on Thursday, 12th July, 6.30 pm at the Guildhall:
Is the Leader aware that the names of residents reporting issues via the Smarter York system is accessible for anyone to view via the public web site. As many of the reports concern illegal activities such as incidents of graffiti, would the Leader agree that residents registering to use the system should in the future have the option of keeping their personal details confidential?