Dear Auckland Council,

Following my complaint about an appalling breach of the privacy of hundreds of citizens when Auckland Council published on its public minutes and agendas site a copy of a petition that left all names and addresses intact, I was advised by Council that:

A. "there is no policy in the council not to publish petitions in full, and no redaction is required by council policy."
B. "Nor is there a requirement under the Privacy Act to redact address from petitions".

I would be grateful if you would:

1. inform me who provided this advice.

2. Inform me what advice - if any - did the responsible officer(s) seek from Council's legal department (if this advice did not come from Council Lawyers) - and their response.

3. Inform me what advice - if any - did Council and/or its legal department seek from the Privacy Commissioner or other legal channels - and their response.

4. supply me with a copy of Council's current Privacy Policy and its responsibilities under the Privacy Act towards the protection of its citizen's privacy, and

5. in view of further advice received that petitions would continue to be published but with addresses redacted ".pending the development of council policy" would you please advise what actions have been taken - and with whom - to actively develop such a policy.

Yours faithfully,
Hana Blackmore

Dear Joan McCoy,

Thank you for your prompt reply. As suggested in your email, I will contact Grace Ray first before supplying details to ensure I am not breaking anyone's privacy myself.

The attachment cannot be opened/is invalid. Can you please re-post?

Yours sincerely,

Hana Blackmore

Dear Joan McCoy,

Unfortunately this Privacy and Information sheet is still unopenable.

Yours sincerely,

Hana Blackmore

Dear Joan McCoy,

On 14 March 2020 I laid an OIA request here on the FYI site for information about policies regarding Petitions and Privacy Act requirements. See below for copy. You should have responded by April 14 (20 working days). This FYI OIA is SEPARATE to a new OIA I subsequently sent privately to Auckland Council CEO which dealt with personal information relating to this issue that should not be public.

I have been informed that you are extending the response date for this SEPARATE private OIA to 12 June 2020 citing Covid 19 constraints. WHICH IS AN EXTRA 40 WORKING DAYS. You have not informed me of any notice to extend this FYI request which is now overdue.

I do not consider this FYI request to be complicated or beyond the ability of responsible officers to answer, therefore require a prompt and full response.

To re-iterate - this OIA request response is overdue. It is SEPARATE to a new OIA I subsequently sent directly to Auckland Council CEO. They are not the same. I require the answers to this FYI request here. Any further breaches of privacy by muddling them up or responding to my PRIVATE OIA on this site would be totally unacceptable.

Yours
Hana Blackmore
Copy of original request below:
==================================================
Following my complaint about an appalling breach of the privacy of hundreds of citizens when Auckland Council published on its public minutes and agendas site a copy of a petition that left all names and addresses intact, I was advised by Council that:

A. "there is no policy in the council not to publish petitions in full, and no redaction is required by council policy."
B. "Nor is there a requirement under the Privacy Act to redact address from petitions".

I would be grateful if you would:

1. inform me who provided this advice.

2. Inform me what advice - if any - did the responsible officer(s) seek from Council's legal department (if this advice did not come from Council Lawyers) - and their response.

3. Inform me what advice - if any - did Council and/or its legal department seek from the Privacy Commissioner or other legal channels - and their response.

4. supply me with a copy of Council's current Privacy Policy and its responsibilities under the Privacy Act towards the protection of its citizen's privacy, and

5. in view of further advice received that petitions would continue to be published but with addresses redacted ".pending the development of council policy" would you please advise what actions have been taken - and with whom - to actively develop such a policy.

Yours sincerely,

Hana Blackmore

Dear Grace Ray,

You did indeed respond to my FYI request on the 23rd April 2020, to my personal email, together with the response to a personal one sent direct to CEO Stephen Town . Thank you for your very prompt response and for not delaying another 40 days before responding. It was appreciated.

I had assumed you would post this FYI response to this site. As you have not, I have copied below the
information sent to me, and would appreciate your confirmation on this site that this is correctly reported.

================================================================
23 April 2020

Dear Hana

Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act i987 Re: website privacy breach

I refer to your two emails which we received on 16 March 2020, and a further extended on 16 April 2020 requesting information about a website privacy breach.

I have liaised with our Privacy Programme Manager and [ ... redacted by Hana ...] in relation to your requests. Please see answers to your questions below.

FIRST REQUEST - SUBMITTED VIA FYI WEBSITE
1. Inform me who provided this advice
ELIZABETH CHATTERTON, PRIVACY & LGOIMA MANAGER, DEMOCRACY SERVICES

2. Inform me what advice - if any - did the responsible officer(s) seek from Council's legal department (if this advice did not come from Council Lawyers) - and their response.
NO ADVICE WAS SOUGHT FROM THE COUNCIL'S LEGAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT.

3. Inform me what advice - if any - did Council and/or its legal department seek from the Privacy Commissioner or other legal channels - and their response.
I HAVE LIAISED WITH OUR PRIVACY PROGRAMME MANAGER WHO HAS ADVISED THAT THERE HAVE BEEN NO COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE PRIVACY COMMISSIONER.

4. Supply me with a copy of Council's current Privacy Policy and its responsibilities under the Privacy Act towards the protection of its citizen's privacy.
OUR PRIVACY POLICY CAN BE FOUND ONLINE BY ACCESSING THE BELOW LINK:
https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/plan...

5. In view of further advice received that petitions would continue to be published but with addresses redacted "pending the development of council policy" would you please advise what actions have been taken - and with whom - to actively develop such a policy.
NO PETITION POLICY HAS BEEN DEVELOPED AT THIS TIME. THE DEVELOPMENT OF A POLICY WILL BE DISCUSSED WITH GOVERNANCE STAFF AND CONSIDERED AS PART OF BROADER GOVERNANCE WORK PROGRAMMING.

SECOND REQUEST - WRITTEN DIRECT TO STEPHEN TOWN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE
[ ... redacted by Hana ...]

YOURS SINCERELY
GRACE RAY
PRIVACY & LGOIMA BUSINESS PARTNER
DEMOCRACY SERVICES
====================================================

Yours sincerely,

Hana Blackmore