New research by Go Shred has found that 66% of those working from home have potentially committed GDPR breaches by printing work related documents at home, and therefore outside of the workplace.
Potential GDPR Breaches
In a survey of 1001 home workers, Go Shred found that up to 66% could potentially have committed GDPR breaches. They found that:-
- 66% of home workers admitted to printing work related documents at home, and therefore outside of the work place
- On average, home workers were printing off 5 work related documents per week, which included commercial documents, contracts, meeting notes, and employee related documentation (including payroll information)
- Liverpool was the city with the highest number of home workers who are commiting potential GDPR breaches (80%)
- Those working in the charity and voluntary sector were found to be the most likely to be in breach (83%), whilst the legal profession was not far behind (80%)
- 24% of home workers said they had not disposed of the confidential documents they had printed off, with 8% stating that they have no plans to do so. Another 24% stated they they had shredded the documents in their own shredder, but had then disposed of the remains in their home waste (not recommended, as it is relatively unsecure).
- 7% of home workers do not know how to dispose of confidential waste
- 41% of home workers confirmed that they are aware of the GDPR rules, but were left with no option during the covid-19 pandemic and the situation they found themselves in, but to print off the confidential documents
- 12% of home workers have no knowledge of the GDPR regulations whatsoever
- 9% of home workers stated that their employer had not sought to enforce GDPR rules during the period that they had been working from home
Potential GDPR Breaches: Reaction
The authors of the Go Shred report stated that in light of their findings as regards potential GDPR breaches, "It’s quite shocking to see that so many home workers are printing items such as payroll and personal information like addresses. This indicates that there is definitely work to be done when it comes to highlighting the risks of printing documents at home. Even internal documents such as meeting notes and agendas can be risky, so extra precautions should be taken in order to dispose of these properly."
The authors of the report added: "It’s vital that business leaders review their current processes and educate their staff on the current guidelines, as working from home demands a different security standard than being in the office, especially with data security and disposing of confidential information."
Some Argue GDPR Has Hampered The Covid-19 Response
Whilst the focus has been on potential GDPR breaches, some have argued that the excessive nature of the data protection measures under GDPR has hampered and obstructed the global fight against the the Covid-19 pandemic.
Researcher, Jasper Bovenberg, for instance argues that the restrictions on sharing data are excessive, and that there needs to be more of a balance between privacy protection and the wider public benefits that come with sharing data, especially when the risks to privacy caused by sharing data are negligible. One example he cites, for example, is in the area of biomedical research, where the benefits to society are potentially enormous, whilst the risks to individual privacy are minimal. For these reason, he asserts that the global response to Covid-19 has been hampered.
Bovanberg states that creating a better balance between individual privacy and what is in the public good will "help to redress the unfortunate consequences created by the existing GDPR approach to international transfers of research data and will enable the biomedical research community to share data beyond the EU for scientific research, while ensuring a high level of protection for data subjects."
