Christel Yardley/Stuff
Human error is to blame for a privacy breach involving the email addresses of 147 firearms licence holders.
The email addresses of 147 firearms licence holders have been sent to each other in error.
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Police superintendent Richard Wilson, who oversees Te Tari Pūreke/Firearms Safety Authority, said the privacy breach by the Auckland District Office had been reported to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.
The incident involved an email being sent with the recipients’ email addresses pasted into the carbon copy (cc) address field, rather than as a blind carbon copy (bcc).
Human error was to blame, Wilson said.
“The email itself was a generic message asking the recipient to update their address, and did not contain any individual information about recipients other than the email address that was visible.”
The email was not sent to any members of the wider public.
“Te Tari Pūreke has also begun a rapid review of its processes around the sending large batches of email, and will be strengthening its processes to avoid future events like this.”
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