The publication of sensitive personal data in newspapers - an action falling within the scope of Law 2472/1997?
In two recent judgments, the Personal Data Protection Authority imposed sanctions on the editors of the First Theme and Auriani newspapers on the illegal publication of photographs depicting the erotic life of the former Secretary General of the Ministry of Culture and an employee of the same Ministry.
One of the crucial issues dealt with in these judgments is whether the publication of information relating to privacy, ie personal data, within the scope of the law falls under the provisions of Law 2472/1997. Due to the fact that the law does not exclude journalistic research, in order for this to happen, the general conditions for its application should not be met, such as whether the underlying processing is a treatment that falls within this field. According to Article 3 of the Act, it applies to fully or partially automated processing or processing with non-automated processing when data is included or is to be included in a file.
Sincerely, the controllers in both cases claimed that Law 2472/1997 does not apply. In particular, 17/2008 the publishing company argued that "there is no competence of the Authority to discuss the case in question because, firstly, the publication of the photographs in question does not constitute the processing of personal data under Article 2 (d) (2) (e) of Law 2472/1997, since "in this case, five of the 46 photographs, included in the police report and are already content of the case file of the pending trial The partial publication of these photographs (...) is not a record in the sense of N.
The first of these arguments is, of course, entirely unfounded, because the photographs are manifestly personal data. More interesting is the search for the foundation of law enforcement in the case of a press, where personal data are not processed directly, ie they are not contained in databases or other electronic media (except in the case of publication on websites , which is processed by electronic means as accepted by the ECJ, see judgment of 06/11/2003, Case C-101/01, Lindqvist, Ref. No 25-27).
However, the Authority has accepted that personal data is processed on the grounds that, in the case of the "Topic", the company "maintains a record, containing at least all the published papers of the First Subject, where all the personal data of their subjects, which have been published in the same period. This access is made possible at least by the criterion of the number of each leaflet of the First Subject, as well as that of the merominias circulation ", while in the case of the newspaper" TOMORROW ", the newspaper that also keeps a record, as in the above case, but also accepted that sensitive data are the photos of the above persons,
Furthermore, the first publishing company argued that the Secretary of the Ministry of Culture is a public figure and therefore there is a need to apply the above provision of Article 7 (2) (g) of Law 2472/1997. The Authority rightly refuted this claim by stating that the alleged purpose of the need to inform the public about the findings of the competent police authorities could very well be achieved by merely reporting or quoting the content of the relevant report without publishing photographs at the same time , which relate exclusively to the close private (erotic) life of the individuals concerned.
In addition, as the Authority rightly considered, the publication of the photographs in question, as made by the newspaper, is by no means the treatment necessary to ensure the right to information on matters of public interest, while at the same time violating the core of the right to the protection of privacy and of the family life of the persons depicted, as far as their love life is concerned.
We consider that the aforementioned decisions resolve an issue - and for the future - which concerns the implementation of Law 2472/1997 in the press and this is particularly positive, especially because this reinforces the privacy arsenal of attacks come from individuals, such as press agencies. It is to be expected that press violations will not cease, because many agencies use many means to attract public interest, even by publishing information and photographs about the privacy of public figures. We hope, at least, that these insults should not be missed by the state and the legislator,
One of the crucial issues dealt with in these judgments is whether the publication of information relating to privacy, ie personal data, within the scope of the law falls under the provisions of Law 2472/1997. Due to the fact that the law does not exclude journalistic research, in order for this to happen, the general conditions for its application should not be met, such as whether the underlying processing is a treatment that falls within this field. According to Article 3 of the Act, it applies to fully or partially automated processing or processing with non-automated processing when data is included or is to be included in a file.
Sincerely, the controllers in both cases claimed that Law 2472/1997 does not apply. In particular, 17/2008 the publishing company argued that "there is no competence of the Authority to discuss the case in question because, firstly, the publication of the photographs in question does not constitute the processing of personal data under Article 2 (d) (2) (e) of Law 2472/1997, since "in this case, five of the 46 photographs, included in the police report and are already content of the case file of the pending trial The partial publication of these photographs (...) is not a record in the sense of N.
The first of these arguments is, of course, entirely unfounded, because the photographs are manifestly personal data. More interesting is the search for the foundation of law enforcement in the case of a press, where personal data are not processed directly, ie they are not contained in databases or other electronic media (except in the case of publication on websites , which is processed by electronic means as accepted by the ECJ, see judgment of 06/11/2003, Case C-101/01, Lindqvist, Ref. No 25-27).
However, the Authority has accepted that personal data is processed on the grounds that, in the case of the "Topic", the company "maintains a record, containing at least all the published papers of the First Subject, where all the personal data of their subjects, which have been published in the same period. This access is made possible at least by the criterion of the number of each leaflet of the First Subject, as well as that of the merominias circulation ", while in the case of the newspaper" TOMORROW ", the newspaper that also keeps a record, as in the above case, but also accepted that sensitive data are the photos of the above persons,
Furthermore, the first publishing company argued that the Secretary of the Ministry of Culture is a public figure and therefore there is a need to apply the above provision of Article 7 (2) (g) of Law 2472/1997. The Authority rightly refuted this claim by stating that the alleged purpose of the need to inform the public about the findings of the competent police authorities could very well be achieved by merely reporting or quoting the content of the relevant report without publishing photographs at the same time , which relate exclusively to the close private (erotic) life of the individuals concerned.
In addition, as the Authority rightly considered, the publication of the photographs in question, as made by the newspaper, is by no means the treatment necessary to ensure the right to information on matters of public interest, while at the same time violating the core of the right to the protection of privacy and of the family life of the persons depicted, as far as their love life is concerned.
We consider that the aforementioned decisions resolve an issue - and for the future - which concerns the implementation of Law 2472/1997 in the press and this is particularly positive, especially because this reinforces the privacy arsenal of attacks come from individuals, such as press agencies. It is to be expected that press violations will not cease, because many agencies use many means to attract public interest, even by publishing information and photographs about the privacy of public figures. We hope, at least, that these insults should not be missed by the state and the legislator,
About Jhon Petter
No comments