Scotland's People data breach - adopted children
 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-66448432

Yet another data breach.

There are fears for children's safety as they could be tracked down. Also, some adults may have been totally unaware that they were adopted.

I'm not sure that the article is explaining what happened very clearly or accurately. Did she find their original names or their adoptive names? Surely it can't be true that "The whole adoption register was there online for everybody to see." I'm not sure that it is a data breach at all.

On closer examination it does seem rather muddled. It reports that the information was removed. Does it mean the information specific to her child or all the information?

I use SP a lot and have never seen any of this.

OC

Right, I think I understand now. It is the original birth certificate which gives the new adoptive name. You would only know this if you paid for and ordered the certificate, but I agree, it does seem unnecessary and a breach of data protection.. I am very surprised that this is the first time anyone has noticed, though!

OC

I can't see anything in the news stories which says that, OC. Where did you find that information?

Kate

On the 10pm news it showed the birth index with a reference AR next to it, then a page of birth certificates with some information in the right hand margin, which I could not read, but I presume gave the new surname along with the AR reference number.

You cannot look at a Scottish birth certificate on line within the last 50 years, so you couldn't access this information unless you ordered the certificate. I assume there's some kind of gate keeping at that point, when adoption is concerned, so I'm not sure what the problem is. There are whole agencies set up to trace adopted adults after all and my understanding is that it is illegal to try to trace an adopted minor.

OC

Thanks, OC.

Durh. I realised at about 2 am that anyone can view any certificate if they visit the SP centre. So yes, this is a breach of data protection and always has been.

OC

I still can't find a proper explanation of what exactly the problem was in the news articles.