- Eighty public websites promise their visitors anonymity, but in fact send their personal information to Google.
- Twice as many sites forward the information, so-called IP addresses, without telling them.
- Following Ekot’s review, several authorities have reported themselves to the Privacy Protection Authority.
One of the websites that sent personal information to Google without informing is run by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which has now reported itself to the Privacy Protection Authority.
– It is deficient of us, quite simply. I can not say anything other than that, says Anders Thoursie, IT director at the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The issue is sensitive because personal data may be stored in the United States, where the protection of personal data according to the European Court of Justice is worse than within the EU.
The information sent to the company is an IP address, which the European Court of Justice classifies as personal data so that it can in the long run be used to identify individuals.
Another of the authorities that appears in Ekot’s review is the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration, FMV.
Anyone who has read about a vacancy on FMV.se during the past year has had their IP address and information about the visit forwarded to the company. This is despite the fact that the authority itself has said that no personal information is stored.
– It was not good. It was good that you have paid attention, and I will make sure that we act on it, says Mats Pettersson who is acting IT manager at FMV.
Shortly after Ekot’s interview, Google’s analytics service disappears from FMV’s website.
Google tells Ekot that they offer their customers the ability to anonymize IP addresses, and that this is done automatically for those who use the latest version of their analytics service.
But over 150 public websites have forwarded IP addresses without informing their visitors. Another eighty have promised that their users will be allowed to remain anonymous – but have not kept that promise. In total, Ekot has reviewed close to 500 websites.
One of the sites The promised anonymity is SCB.se, which belongs to Statistics Sweden and which last year alone received close to ten million visits. For over two years, SCB.se sent visitors’ IP addresses to Google.
– Of course, it is not good if what is written on our site is not correct, says Cecilia Weststrรถm who is head of Statistics Sweden’s communications department.
How could it turn out like this?
– I have no answer to that. I’ll take it back and come back.
Since the interviews with Ekot, Statistics Sweden and the Public Prosecutor’s Office have reported themselves to the Privacy Protection Authority.
Source: ICELAND NEWS