Dozens of public and private entities received email containing the information
Civic platform Algarve pela Palestina (Algarve for Palestine) has lambasted Faro City Council for sharing the names and personal data of the organisers of a demonstration being held later today in Faro.
Various public and private entities received emails containing the personal information of organisers of the “pot-banging protest in support of Palestine and against genocide in the Gaza Strip”, which is taking place at 7.40pm by the city’s Arco da Vila.
“In compliance with legal requirements”, the movement notified the City Council of the rally by email, signed by three activists, who, in addition to their names, also provided their tax identification numbers, mobile phone numbers and addresses.
The following day, the activists were “surprised” to find that the same email, containing their personal data, had been sent not only to the PSP police (who need to be aware of such demonstrations) but also to dozens of other entities in the city – “more than 30 email addresses – including hotels and churches”, establishments the council clearly believed would be ‘affected’ by the protest.
The situation, say the Algarve pela Palestina activists, “is clearly illegal and will be the subject of a complaint to the National Data Protection Commission”.
In the meantime, two of the activists personally emailed Faro mayor Rogério Bacalhau, questioning him “on the legitimacy of sharing my personal data with various public and private entities that have nothing to do with the matter.”
Deeply outraged by the situation, the organisers of the demonstration consider that “this is yet another case of illegality and total disregard for individual rights, which guarantee the protection of this type of information, even to protect the citizens involved from reprisals or persecution” and demand that “the local authority and its president take responsibility.”
Responding to questions from TSF, Bacalhau admitted to the “error” of the council’s services department and said he is “doing everything to minimise the impact of the situation”. He also added that a data deletion request was sent out to all the entities who received the email and that an apology would be sent directly to the organisers of the protest.
This situation is similar to what happened in 2021 in Lisbon, when the City Council, at the time chaired by Fernando Medina, shared the data of the organisers of an anti-Putin demonstration with the Russian embassy. The Lisbon Council was later fined €1 million for the illegal sharing of data.
