Letter of condolence - Data protection issue?

Aylesbury_Duck

Findyourbacon said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Findyourbacon said:

A relative of mine recently passed away - they were a big fan of a Premiership football club, as am I.   A month ago, I received a letter of condolence from the club signed by the manager - which was really lovely.  However, I'm a bit concerned as to how the club found out and what information has been shared with them.  When I enquired with the club, all they could tell me was that a neighbour had informed them, but they couldn't share any more details with me due to Data Protection.  I'm not a DP expert, but I'm wondering how someone can contact a football club and share personal and sensitive information, but I can't find out who contacted them.  Did any verification of the death take place, and what's to stop someone doing this for more malicious purposes?  This doesn't sit right with me, but I can't work out why.  Can anyone help from a DP point of view?  Thanks so much.

Is the information personal and sensitive, though?  Your relative's name might be all the neighbour disclosed to the club, and they simply found your address and your name as someone with the same address, from that.  I can't see how that's sensitive, given it's information the club held with your and your late relative's consent.

My personal information being my address, which was different to the deceased, and sensitive information disclosing the death of a relative.

I see, I assumed it was the same address.  Even so, it seems the club have used what was probably basic information supplied by the neighbour to work out who you are and where you live, but that's information they held already.

In this instance, I can't see that it's reasonable to expect the club to have trawled through things like the register of deaths or local obituaries before sending a condolence card.  They clearly felt it was more important to get a prompt gesture to you than to worry about the intricacies of GDPR and verifying a death.  They could have get in touch with you to check the information was correct and to check you were happy to receive a card, but that would be silly.

What I'm getting at is that I can't see that the neighbour has done anything wrong by notifying the club.  Nor do I think the club has done anything wrong in terms of acting on it.

born_again

Findyourbacon said:

My personal information being my address, which was different to the deceased, and sensitive information disclosing the death of a relative.

Sadly death of a relative is not sensitive information, as most people would post a newspaper advert about it to advise people of funeral time etc. 

Are you both season ticket holders who sit next to each other with the same surname?

emmajones1976

born_again said:

Findyourbacon said:

My personal information being my address, which was different to the deceased, and sensitive information disclosing the death of a relative.

Sadly death of a relative is not sensitive information, as most people would post a newspaper advert about it to advise people of funeral time etc. 

Are you both season ticket holders who sit next to each other with the same surname?

I thought it was quite obvious that the OPs neighbour has supplied the address and name of the OP, and news of the death.

Findyourbacon

Just to clarify - the club didn't say whether it was one of my neighbours or my relatives.  We have (or had, I suppose) different addresses.

The letter itself was lovely, and I have no issue with that at all.  I was just questioning the process of how my details can be shared with the club, but the neighbours details can't be shared with me - so I can't even thank whoever informed the club.  It sounds like there are no DP issues at play here, but I wasn't sure, which is why I asked the question here.  

Thanks for all the helpful comments.

emmajones1976

Findyourbacon said:

Just to clarify - the club didn't say whether it was one of my neighbours or my relatives.  We have (or had, I suppose) different addresses.

The letter itself was lovely, and I have no issue with that at all.  I was just questioning the process of how my details can be shared with the club, but the neighbours details can't be shared with me - so I can't even thank whoever informed the club.  It sounds like there are no DP issues at play here, but I wasn't sure, which is why I asked the question here.  

Thanks for all the helpful comments.

Imagine if your neighbour was making noise, every night and day etc, and you made a complaint to the council.

Would you like it if the council told your neighbour it was you who made the complaints?

This is no different in terms of what is being shared (or not)

LaHostessAvecLaMostess

Findyourbacon said:

Just to clarify - the club didn't say whether it was one of my neighbours or my relatives.  We have (or had, I suppose) different addresses.

The letter itself was lovely, and I have no issue with that at all.  I was just questioning the process of how my details can be shared with the club, but the neighbours details can't be shared with me - so I can't even thank whoever informed the club.  It sounds like there are no DP issues at play here, but I wasn't sure, which is why I asked the question here.  

Thanks for all the helpful comments.

Because presumably whoever shared your information with the club is not under the thumb of the DPA, whereas the club is.

Findyourbacon

born_again said:

Findyourbacon said:

My personal information being my address, which was different to the deceased, and sensitive information disclosing the death of a relative.

Sadly death of a relative is not sensitive information, as most people would post a newspaper advert about it to advise people of funeral time etc. 

Are you both season ticket holders who sit next to each other with the same surname?

We are both season ticket holders, but not together and with different surnames.

Manxman_in_exile

If you were both such big fans of this particular club (certainly big enough for you to warrant a personal letter from the manager), is it at all possible that someone at the club knew that the two of you were related, and that your letter of condolence resulted from somebody at the club thinking it was a good thing to do, and not from a neighbour revealing your address and not from any "data processed" by the club?

(And as someone else has already pointed out, the "neighbour" almost certainly won't be subject to data protection legislation, whereas the club will be.  Hence the neighbour might be able to give your name and address to the club with impunity, whereas the club can't tell you who the neighbour is)

IvanOpinion

No good deed goes unpunished.
Maybe whoever set this up asked for a signed letter to be sent to you at such-and-such address.
There really is nothing to worry about and I would hate to think that someone who is questioning the letter means that others, who would be grateful for such a nice gesture, may no longer receive it due to the club now being concerned that there may be an issue.

Findyourbacon

IvanOpinion said:

No good deed goes unpunished.
Maybe whoever set this up asked for a signed letter to be sent to you at such-and-such address.
There really is nothing to worry about and I would hate to think that someone who is questioning the letter means that others, who would be grateful for such a nice gesture, may no longer receive it due to the club now being concerned that there may be an issue.

I have never said I was ungrateful - in fact I said the letter was lovely.  However, I don't know who to express my gratitude to, as their details are protected by data protection.