The UK's data protection authority, the Information
Commissioner's Office (ICO), may be prompted to investigate a
serious breach of privacy involving a London health clinic
last week.
The
56 Dean Street Clinic, which is operated by the Chelsea and
Westminster NHS Trust and specializes in HIV and other sexual
health services, has apologized for the error which revealed (to
all 780 recipients) the full names and email addresses of fellow
clinic users who had signed up to an email service, which allows
them to receive test results and book appointments by email, and to
receive the clinic's newsletter. An internal investigation is
underway, but it appears that human error is to blame; instead of
"blind" copying recipients to the email bulletin, the
sender incorrectly used the "cc" function. Such slip-ups
are usually embarrassing for any organisation, but this one is
particularly serious because of the highly sensitive nature of the
information and the breach of patient
