Are privacy laws taken seriously?

Elite Woad Raider

Say for instance a landlord discloses private information about a tenant to a public organisation without the tenants consent, and the tenant suffers humiliation as a result, can the tenant sue for breach of privacy?

dennyk

How likely you are to be successful in such a lawsuit would be extremely fact-dependent in a case such as this. You'd want to consult with a solicitor and share with them the full details of the situation, and they'd be able to advise you whether you have a potential case.

Victor

If this is a landlord giving the RTB the details of a tenant, then they are obliged to do so.

In certain other cases, there may be other obligations, e.g. if a council has an issue with an anti-social tenant.

If it is a landlord telling Teagasc what type of underwear you like, that's another matter.

Elite Woad Raider

Victor wrote: »

If it is a landlord telling Teagasc what type of underwear you like, that's another matter.

What kind of remedies can someone seek if that is the case?

Peregrinus

Elite Woad Raider wrote: »

What kind of remedies can someone seek if that is the case?

Depends on the nature of the harm suffered. Realistically, in most cases recovery of the date and restoration of secrecy is not going to be possible; what people know they cannot easily un-know. So you're probably looking at damages, and the scale of the damages will depend on how much injury you have suffered, and what kind. Obviously in some cases damage will be quantifiable - because of this data breach I lost my job, so we can calculate loss of earnings; my bank account was cleaned out so we know how much was taken; etc. But you can also seek damages for distress, loss of reputation, and similar social (rather than economic) consequences.

Carawaystick

the gdpr allows for damages for non-material loss

re the thread title, the whole psc issue shows the State doesn't take Data protection laws seriously