[Closed] EMails - Legal question

What is their GTA function?

They play Grand Theft Auto instead of fixing the problem?

How could they wreck your laptop?

I'm guessing they remote accessed his laptop via the GTA (GotoAssist) and buggered something up???

You as an individual have the right to see ALL data that is about you including data that's generated automatically

Er, thats not quite right pdf. You have the right to personal data about you kept in a relevant filing system, e.g. that is easily retrievable under your name.

So all the data they keep regarding your account that is accessible via your acccount number yes.

Mention of you in emails between colleagues, no.

You need to write to them making a Subject Access Request, they can charge you £10 for this.

Exactly that.

I'd also be [i]very [/i]careful with the difference between "BT buggered up my laptop" and "my laptop doesn't work, coincidentally BT were accessing it remotely recently."

Playing devil's advocate, the latter would seem more likely. If you can explain a bit more about the buggeration however, I might be able to advise.

tbh, don't waste your time - if its really 'dead', then just re-install the OS, applications and copy over your data from your backup - you do have the disks and data, don't you?

Or you could, y'know, fix it. Call me old fashioned and all.

You have the right to see ALL communications held with regard to you, the company holding the info is allowed to charge a small fee for supplying this info though

No - you don't have the right to see all communications held that mention you. You have the right to see personal data held about you in a relevant filing system. See Durant vs FSA - which may still be rumbling on !

Do you think there will be an email saying.. I know I am going to fek up customer x's machine mwahahAHAHAHAHAAHA?

😀

'wrecking' implies physical damage rather than just poking about with windows settings or something?

What did they do?

This would never have happened if you had worn a tin foil hat btw !

Under the Data Protection Act you have the right to see information held about you that is reasonably accessible - i.e. contained on emails. You need to submit a formal request under the DPA which I believe is free, as opposed to Freedom of Information Act requests which cost £10.

BT will have to respond within the time limit specified in the act (can't remember offhand).

Having said that, the chances of getting any compensation is probably zero as they will not have any records of what they did when logged on to your machine

OK - once more then I give up.

The Data Protection Act covers personal data. Not information. You can make a subject access request for which a company can charge you £10, but they may not. (FOI/FOISA requests are free up to a certain level, but of course BT is not subject to those Acts)

You can see a copy of all personal data held about you in a relevant filing system. This will not automatically include emails, which are indexed under date/time/recipient etc so would not be retrievable under your name or other unique identifier e.g. account number.

So back to your original question - you do not have the automatic right to see the emails to which you refer.

See below for definitions:

Personal data, whether held on a computer or on a manual filing system, must name or directly refer to an individual and must be biographical to a significant extent. This means that the data must go beyond the recording of the data subject's involvement in a matter or event that has no personal connotations (information that affects his privacy, whether in his personal or family life, business or professional capacity), and have the data subject as its focus. Not all information retrieved from a computer search against an individual's name or unique identifier will constitute "personal data".

A relevant filing system must be referenced or indexed enabling the data controller to identify with reasonable certainty and speed the file(s) in which the specific data relating to the data subject is located and to locate the relevant information about him in the file(s) without having to carry out a prolonged search. A manual filing system which requires an individual to "leaf through" multiple documents to find the required data falls outside scope of Act, as it bears no resemblance to a computerised search. This is referred to as "The Temp Test", where a temporary employee with no guidance should be able to find the data with ease. if so the filing system tends to be "relevant".

P.S and sorry to harp on, but why don't you just ask then for a copy ? I get loads of questions from people "am I entitled to this, can I see that, FOI this DPA that I know my rights blah blah etc"

It's all very confrontational. If you just ask politely they may have no problem releasing the emails ? (that is not advice btw - the tin-foil hat comment is tho)

I'm not wholly sure why you'd need them anyway, unless you were going for breach of contract or something.

If you've rung up going "ZOMG you wrecked my computer" and generally been a dick at them, and now you want to see emails going "this customer is being a dick" so you can use it against them, well good luck with that.

It's a fact of life I'm afraid, you'll never get anywhere dealing with techies by being an arse or being shouty. If you're nice we'll go to the ends of the earth, if you're a screamer there's a large amount of wiggle room when it comes to how helpful we actually have to be. Trust me on this.

(not that I'm saying that's what's happened here, of course. I've no idea. Just saying.)