Over 100 personal email addresses were leaked in error by UBC's Faculty of Arts Dean’s Office in an email on September 12.
The email was sent to some students, faculty and staff who applied to join the faculty’s strategic plan working group. It invited individuals to provide feedback on the faculty’s strategic direction due to a lack of working group space. Only individuals affiliated with UBC were invited.
This leak comes after UBC’s psychology department leaked nearly 900 students’ personal information — including names, ID numbers and academic standing — in an email error on September 3.
Personal information, according to the federal government, includes identifying information such as names, home and email addresses, phone numbers or dates of birth. Around 160 email addresses were leaked in total by the Faculty of Arts, with approximately 60 email addresses being UBC-affiliated.
According to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, public bodies like UBC “must protect personal information in its custody or under its control by making reasonable security arrangements against such risks as unauthorized collection, use, disclosure or disposal.”
In a statement to The Ubyssey, Acting Senior Director of UBC Media Relations Matthew Ramsey said the invite “unintentionally” allowed recipients to see “the names and UBC email addresses of some recipients and the non-UBC email addresses (but not names) of others.”
Ramsey said the faculty “has taken steps to change this process so the issue does not happen again,” but did not further specify what these changes are.
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