Category: Data Protection Commissioner

Public Services Card: Some still forced to comply

By Anthony Sheridan

Two years ago I qualified for the Free Travel Pass but was denied the entitlement because I refused to accept the legitimacy of the Public Services Card.  The Data Protection Commissioner [DPC] has now ruled on the issue:

The Department does not have a legal basis for processing personal data when it’s in the case of a person who’s seeking to avail of a service with the public sector body other than the department itself.

But…there’s always a ‘but’, the DPC has also ruled that:

The legislation only allows the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection to insist on its use for its own services.

They [the ID cards] can continue to be used in the context of availing of free travel or availing of benefits that a person is claiming from the department.

So, not withstanding further clarifications, my current understanding is:

All citizens outside the remit of the Department of Social Welfare now have the option of using the card as identification if they so choose.

Those citizens within the remit of the Department of Social Welfare are not granted the right of choice, they must accept this illegal and very dangerous card if they want to receive their entitlements.

I will not be accepting this card until I am granted the same rights as all other citizens.

Data Protection Commissioner farce continues

The farce that is administrative/political governance in Ireland continues with the latest episode surrounding the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC).

When Austrian law student Max Schrems first made his complaint to the DPC regarding the transfer of data by US companies to data centres outside the EU he was arrogantly dismissed as being vexatious and frivolous.

But the European Court of Justice thought otherwise and ruled that the practice was invalid.

Now the High Court has quashed the DPCs decision and ordered her to conduct an (real) inquiry into the matter.

The DPC has now pledged to the court that it will investigate the original complaint as quickly as possible.

Max Schrems will not be holding his breath on that promise. He was (rightly) contemptuous of the DPC today over the fact they she took three years to deal with his initial complaint.