A massive leak in Nuenen reveals the addresses of more than 1000 opponents of the asylum center
The municipality of Nuenen in Noord-Brabant accidentally leaked the addresses of more than a thousand residents who had submitted objections to the establishment of a temporary center for asylum seekers, raising significant concerns about privacy and data protection.
According to Omroep Brabant, the municipality sent the document containing these addresses to several parties while preparing for the objections session, even though the file did not include names or any other personal details. However, the municipality acknowledged that the addresses alone could lead to the identification of their owners indirectly.
Due to the magnitude of the error, the municipality of Nuenen reported the incident to the Dutch Data Protection Authority, Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens. All recipients of the document were also asked to delete it immediately and not to share it with any third party.
The municipality stated in its statement that the error occurred while sending documents related to the session for reviewing objections, and clarified that only the addresses pertaining to the applicants of the objections were revealed, but this was enough to consider the incident a data leak.
The municipality of Nuenen confirmed that it has strengthened its internal procedures for handling documents and communicating with the objections committee, in order to prevent the recurrence of such incidents and restore the trust of residents.