merrion street

The Data Protection Commissioner, Billy Hawkes, today launched his report for 2011. The Commissioner draws attention to the shift in the nature and type of complaints received by his Office with individuals concerned about the security of their personal data and the uses made of that data by software and technology applications.

During 2011 the Office opened 1,161 complaints for investigation. This was a record high number of complaints and it compares with 783 complaints in 2010. Complaints concerning access rights (562) accounted for nearly half of the overall total reflecting a growing level of public awareness of the right of access to a copy of personal data.

Mr. Hawkes spoke to MerrionStreet.ie at the launch earlier today: