Victorian cults inquiry accidentally shares email address of anonymous survivors with group members
A Victorian parliamentary committee accidentally exposed the email addresses of anonymous cult survivors to other recipients. The committee issued an apology and requested that recipients delete the email to prevent further privacy breaches.
Why it matters
This incident highlights significant data privacy failures within government institutions handling sensitive information about vulnerable individuals.
The parliamentary committee into ‘cults and organised fringe groups’ emailed hundreds of recipients shortly after midday to inform them its report had been published, but erroneously left their addresses visible./iStockphoto The parliamentary committee into ‘cults and organised fringe groups’ emailed hundreds of recipients shortly after midday to inform them its report had been published, but erroneously left their addresses visible./iStockphoto Victoria Victorian cults inquiry accidentally shares email address of anonymous survivors with group members Committee apologises for not concealing email addresses when alerting witnesses to final report
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Prefer the Guardian on Google A Victorian parliamentary committee investigating the harmful impact of cults accidentally sent the email addresses of anonymous survivors who made submissions to current members of such groups and to journalists.
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