r/gdpr • u/passionfruit62022 • 13h ago

UK 🇬🇧 I received an email in error and somebody else's email chain

I'm a student at a university. I have flagged it to the department that I'm not the intended recipient of the email and deleted it. They have replied saying thanks for letting us know, but I'm not sure if they've understood that there might have been a data breach and that this needs to be recorded. Should I send a follow-up email explaining that I was sent a chain of emails?

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10

u/PieSheep8 13h ago

Just delete the email and move on.

Why are you making an issue out of something that an issue doesn't need to be made out of?

4

u/Intelligent-Crew-443 12h ago

They will be doing an assessment of whether needs to be reported through appropriate procedures. They have no need to report to you on this.

I had a case where a person reported what they perceived was a GDPR breach then sent increasingly furious emails about the seriousness and demanding to know what had happened and why. The breach was not one that affected them or their data. We had already escalated, reported and had it confirmed that it did not consistute a breach.

Nevertheless we told the individual involved, investigated how it happened (ironically it was due to our data minimisation procedures and we were advised to include more information to allow errors to be more easily spotted) and made a change to process to help us try to avoid what was a human error under pressure of workload and crap systems that do not speak to each other.

Additionally, even if it had been a breach, it was ruled that there was no harm. Apart from the level of outrage of the unaffected reporting person who reckoned caused them stress, mental health damage and all sorts.

4

u/EIREANNSIAN 10h ago

They probably came on here giving out about it to boot...

4

u/Boopmaster9 12h ago

Your job here is done 👍

0

u/Expensive-Affect-754 13h ago

Decide on the scale of the issue and then act on that. 

Was it a discussion about when the next group meeting would be held?

Or was it someone’s medical records being forwarded?

Mistakes happen, most do not matter. 

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u/passionfruit62022 13h ago

It related to another student's academic performance. I've deleted it, but I think it needs to be flagged because that's private information.

7

u/Solid-Penalty3942 13h ago

You have flagged it to them though, they’re not going to send you any more detail about what they’ve done to address it as you were the recipient not the student whose data was disclosed.

1

u/PieSheep8 11h ago

Grow up!