Met Police releases 1,000 email addresses by mistake

THE LONDON METROPOLITAN POLICE has accidentally shared more than 1,000 email addresses between victims of crime.

Human error caused the email addresses to be place in the wrong box (CC instead of BCC) of an email survey sent out to victims. A total of 1,136 have been exposed in seven batches of emails, according to the Press Association.

A spokesman for Scotland Yard said, "We can confirm that the Metropolitan Police Service has inadvertently shared the email addresses of a number of victims of crime with other victims."

"The sharing of the data was the result of human error and occurred on Monday January 30 when the Crime Recording and Investigation Bureau project was emailing out a survey to ensure that victims were receiving a better service as part of the MPS creation of a single telephone investigation unit for London."

The emails were sent out in batches of between 119 and 198 recipients meaning at most 197 others would see a victim's name and address.

"No other personal details were revealed and we are contacting everyone affected to explain what happened and to apologise," the spokesman added. The survey distribution method is being reviewed to avoid any similar mistakes in the future.

The Information Commissioner's Office has been made aware of the situation and is investigating a possible breach of the Data Protection Act. It could hand out a fine for the incident.

Anna Brading at Sophos said, "To err is human, and no doubt many of us have accidentally CC'd people we meant to BCC in the past. But organisations such as the Metropolitan Police really should be much more careful when contacting people, especially when they are the innocent victims of crime." µ