DPA and Facebook

MillieMoodle

Hello,
Seeking help with DPA as a facebook group admin.
Recently a post came up on our local page, it was regarding a dog which 'attacked' a passerby. The post named a home and location in which the person lives, and posted a photo of the dog and aspect of their home. In the post there were people who listed their other animals, goats, dogs, etc. to further identify which home it was (ie the farm which has xxx in a suburban area).

The person who owns the dog contacted me, as the post was identifying their home and I removed the post. They however have come back to say that posts like this shouldn't be allowed on facebook as it identified them, they are the only local people with livestock in the street which was named, wasn't entirely factual (dog got out but attack was inappropriately applied) and that during the time of dog thefts, a photo and their home location was placed on our group for 24 hours before they saw it. They've been victims of theft of their livestock before and feel that the page may target them for unwanted/unwarranted attention (in their words, if there was an issue with their dog, it was for the poster to speak to them or authorities - the alleged crime does not permit that their rights are negated, as guilt isn't assumed, but even if it is factual they would still have rights of privacy). They say they've taken photos of the post in which their home is identified. The OP claimed they dismissed them. The owners stated they couldn't hear the issue from across a river and the OP never came to their home to discuss though they knew where their home was. So the dismissal was an untrue statement, and as the person never came to them, no assessment of this 'attack' could be substantiated or verified for complete accuracy) but our group, and the number of responses made it impossible for them to answer because of harassment and bullying which would likely result from a post made on a local group.

I told them that we can take no further action. We are not police. We removed the post, take it to the police if they feel there is an issue, end of discussion. But they say that as a group admin, we have responsibility for DPA as an information controller, and as we are not the police, we shouldn't have assumed guilt and allowed the OP to post their home location. It wasn't our place to decide guilt or not guilt, but that we shouldn't have allowed a post with identifiable information, as we didn't know. That is their statement. I say, we don't have anything more to do.

Can anyone shed light on this as google isn't really assisting with what my role is and isn't? Please everyone let's not get into the dog issue as it would be a different matter and one I am definitely not qualified or able to assess. I only need to know my responsibilities for DPA, the other is background for a bit of insight.
Ta

[Deleted User]

Apparently a Facebook group admin is jointly responsible with Facebook regarding GDPR matters but whether and data protection laws have been broken is questionable. I'd say at best the dog owners could claim the post was defamatory. 

The act happened in a public place and photos of said home were presumably taken from a public place so I'm not entirely convinced any kind of breach of data protection laws have taken place.

You've also done all you can, ie delete the post as soon as you were made aware and a such there isn't anything else you can do.

The original poster and those adding defamatory comments probably hold more blame in the the eyes of the law if you acted swiftly when informed.

Neil_Jones

https://www.facebook.com/policies/pages_groups_events/ - "You are responsible for ensuring that your Page, group or event complies with all applicable laws, statutes and regulations. ... If you collect content and information directly from users, your Page, Group or Event must make it clear that you (and not Facebook) are collecting it, and must provide notice about and obtain user consent for your use of the content and information that you collect"

This situation is one of the downsides of Facebook, you only have to look on the "I grew up in <somewhere>" pages to see people write idiotic things like "The moron at number 28 closed his curtains at dusk, he's obviously up to something, be aware".  There is no regulation as such, it would be up to whoever ran the group to decide/see that the person at no  28 has been called a moron and take appropriate action (with regards to the post, not whether the people at no 28 are morons or not).  This becomes a grey area.

Also DPA - Data Protection Act - repealed.  GDPR.  In any event data protection only applies in the context of personal data.  The house will be public viewable from the public road, any Tom, !!!!!! or Harry can go and "see" it.  The names of those who live there are relatively public, electoral register can often be seen at the local library so its not a trade secret, then you have the full electoral register, the phone book, the 10 year census, the street name will be plain from the road signs, the house will have a number on it, none of this is particularly hard to find if you wanted to, especially if the house is relatively distinctive.  They may even show up by accident on Street View, so privacy doesn't necessarily mean "private", as in the modern world that's virtually impossible unless you live in an underground bunker.

Anyway the dog thing is a police matter, as It’s against the law to let a dog be dangerously out of control anywhere, so don't get involved.  With regards to the other issue, The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in 2018 that anybody who runs a fan page, group or other such page on Facebook can be held partly responsible for any failures in GDPR compliance concerning users on the page, even if the offense does not originate from the page itself.  However whether GDPR in this context applies to a group page is up for debate, as you're not (deliberately) collecting anybody's data.  If somebody else posts them, that's different.  Defamation, slander and what not most certainly be your call (to use the example above, calling somebody a moron isn't necessarily a problem but if you call them a !!!!!! for example, then you're going to have a problem if you don't nip that sort of conversation in the bud soon as).

I'd say if in doubt, remove.  But realistically once something's on Facebook and seen, you can't unsee it.  Peril of this medium unfortunately.

MillieMoodle

Many thanks folks! Just wanted to be sure I wasn't missing anything.

KeithP

Neil_Jones said:

Also DPA - Data Protection Act - repealed.

Are you sure about that?

The Data Protection Act 2018 sets out the framework for data protection law in the UK.
It updates and replaces the Data Protection Act 1998, and came into effect on 25th May 2018

Neil_Jones

My bad, I missed the year out.  1998 Data Protection Act is repealed and yes it was repealed by the later act, 2018.

MillieMoodle

By the way, just to clarify, the person who wrote to us, said that with dog thefts on the rise it is advised not to photo your dog and location as thieves steal to order, so as commenters had said a specific location and photo of dog, and listed animals, they could be targeted. So I don't think it was a photo on Google earth similar idea, it was posting to a wider audience exactly what is exactly where. 

Which is why I wanted to be sure that our group wasn't remiss, if the post led to a crime.