Lake Alice Data Breach
Abuse Inquiry Leaks Child Survivors' Information
The Abuse in State Care inquiry announced today that compensation would be paid to 37 of the children who were tortured at the mental health facility. Here is the report. Independent Arbiter Paul Davidson KC noted:
It is regrettable that the Crown Response Office’s attentiveness to the privacy of the survivors is less than the Arbiter might have expected, with an email including their contact addresses circulated yesterday by a Wokington bureaucrat.
The email was retracted less than an hour later, with an apology:
The Crown Response Unit assured me this afternoon that the Office of the Privacy Commissioner has been informed. They also provided this statement attributed to the Chief Executive Rajesh Chhana
Chhana’s assertion that “No personal information other than email addresses was released” is misleading. The given names and surnames of 18 survivors are readily identifiable, apparent from the username field of the email addresses.
-SRA. Auckland, 27/xi 2025.
The point about names being visible in email usernames is so important. Saying they only leaked email adresses completely misses how exposed these survivors still are. After everything they went through, this kind of carelessness is unacceptable. Has there been any word on consequnces for whoever sent that email?
These survivors deserve so much better. Like they haven’t endured enough breach of trust? NZ GOVT imposters and Crown should be ashamed of themselves