post purchase - photos online

Johnno75 said:
+1!

This is what I’ve been trying to tell the generous and broad minded patrons and moderators here on AAM since my very first post on the issue.
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Fair enough but you don’t seem to be open to the idea that you may be wrong.

A simple email to the data protection commissioner querying whether or not this is a GDPR issue would easily solve this matter.

Would be interested to see the response
 
Or even query it with the psri as they would have it in some form of policy I would imagine .

In any case. As stated before (irrespective of whether it’s a GDPR issue or not) the agents should remove it promptly if the property is no longer for sale
 
rustbucket said:
Fair enough but you don’t seem to be open to the idea that you may be wrong.

A simple email to the data protection commissioner querying whether or not this is a GDPR issue would easily solve this matter.

Would be interested to see the response
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Look, of course I may be wrong. But as it happens, I have a certain expertise in this area (which I haven’t explicitly disclosed, in the interest of debate).

I’ve been barked at and shouted down as being plain wrong by moderators and others with no firm basis for their assertions. I have quoted the law, point to the DPC website, listed my experience of it and have given ample rationale and justification for my position, yet the best people can come up with is “you don’t have a clue!”, followed on by question after question querying my position.

It’s all there on the data protection commission website. And whilst the area is complex, it boils down to a very simple principle: if the info is about you and could lead to your identification of itself, or in conjunction with other information, it’s personal data - irrespective of who owns it from an intellectual property perspective.

The DPC are not likely to answer a query on the issue, but it’s more likely that only a complaint to the DPC on this issue leading to a determination will settle the matter.

I don’t have a monopoly on knowledge on this one, but I’m comfortable with my position - photos of my house and web listings with my address outlined on them are my personal data under GDPR, regardless of who commissioned the pictures and when they were commissioned. That gives me rights under GDPR.
 
NoRegretsCoyote said:
You can quote something bit still completely misinterpret it.

Photos of the inside of your house are not personal data.
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Agreed. I have the misfortune of being involved in monthly data protection meetings at work. A GDPR specialist team run them and give us regular tutorials and updates. We spend about 50% of our time dealing with requests/complaints which are in fact misunderstandings and misapplications of the law.

OP, as you are not in the photos and as they are from before you purchased it then (excepting extremely specific and rare circumstances) you have no case.
 
azlana said:
Hello everyone,
I have purchased a property and the photos and advert are still on the agent's website and Myhome.ie. If I ask for them to be removed (I don't like that anyone can see inside my new home) do they have any grounds to refuse my request?
Thanks in advance!!
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Leaving aside all this GDPR debate, why not just ask the EA to have them removed? You can consider the "grounds" subsequently in the very unlikely event that they decline to do so. I have made this request twice - two different properties with two different EAs and it was done without issue (it may have taken a couple of days, can't remember).
 
NoRegretsCoyote said:
Photos of the inside of your house are not personal data.
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Its not just photos of the inside of your house. Its also photos of outside, the front of your house, videos of inside and out. The address will be naturally tagged to these.

This is your home address. Photos of your home. Photos are data.

Of course this is personal data! How could it not be? Furthermore, it can be used in conjunction with other personal data thus making you identifiable.

arbitron said:
Agreed. I have the misfortune of being involved in monthly data protection meetings at work. A GDPR specialist team run them and give us regular tutorials and updates. We spend about 50% of our time dealing with requests/complaints which are in fact misunderstandings and misapplications of the law.

OP, as you are not in the photos and as they are from before you purchased it then (excepting extremely specific and rare circumstances) you have no case.
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I think you need to listen up in these meetings as you have a very naive view on gdpr.

Read this: https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/data-protection/

In particular, read the bit that says

Personal data​

Personal data means data relating to a person who is or can be identified either from the data itself or in conjunction with other information

Also:

The legislation confers rights on individuals in relation to the privacy of their personal data as well as responsibilities on those persons holding and processing such data


And:

Personal data can cover various types of information, such as name, date of birth, email address, phone number, address, physical characteristics, or location data – once it is clear to whom that information relates, or it is reasonably possible to find out.

And read this link: https://www.dataprotection.ie/en/dpc-guidance/what-is-personal-data#:~:text=Personal data can cover various,reasonably possible to find out.
 
The level of misinterpretation is staggering at this point. Ye have convinced yourselves that photos of a house are personal data. None of the links shared or references to the GDPR or DPC guidance suggests anything even close to this. An address in and of itself is not personal data. How photos of the house could possibly change this is beyond me, especially photos of the house before you even owned it? I can go on Google maps and look up any house in the country. I'd have no idea who lives in any particular house by doing so. Looking at pictures of the house - inside or outside - wouldn't confer me with any further information about the owners or occupiers. Photos are not personal data unless they are of people. A house is not a person.
 
Something else for people to moan and whinge about.

Honest to God.

Why not buy a house that’s marketed privately just in case someone has ever seen the inside of the property?!

GDPR tends to be the first port of call for ‘Karen’ “can I see the manager” types.
 
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Johnno75 said:
if the info is about you and could lead to your identification of itself, or in conjunction with other information
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Ok seeing as you're so hung up on this, can you explain you you have come to the conclusion that either (never mind both) of these points are true? The info is not about you - it is about a house that you bought. How could these photos lead to your identification as you are not in any of these photos? I think you have got fixated on something that really isn't there.
 
24601 said:
An address in and of itself is not personal data
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But it is. Thats the point. As is a phone number. Please see below from the data protection website:

. Personal data can cover various types of information, such as name, date of birth, email address, phone number, address, physical characteristics, or location data – once it is clear to whom that information relates, or it is reasonably possible to find out.

I rest my case.
 
ArthurMcB said:
But it is. Thats the point. As is a phone number. Please see below from the data protection website:

. Personal data can cover various types of information, such as name, date of birth, email address, phone number, address, physical characteristics, or location data – once it is clear to whom that information relates, or it is reasonably possible to find out.

I rest my case.
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Not by itself

It’s like saying a date of birth is personal information on its own without a name or anything else to reference it
 
ArthurMcB said:
Hang on...the pictures of the house may have been taken before you owned the house but now that you own it of course it could be linked back to you. It is personal data under the data commissioners own definition.
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What specifically in the legislation makes a picture of someone else's contents in a property they didn't own at the time fall under the requirements of the act?

Hint, tell me how a subsequent purchaser of the home becomes a data subject as defined, and how MyHome as the alleged data controller in this case asserts a relationship between the subsequent owner and the information they have on file?
 
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The funny thing about this interminable discussion is that even if the agent and Myhome.ie remove the photos immediately, they are going to be cached and accessible somewhere online for a long, long time.
 
Leo said:
What specifically in the legislation makes a picture of someone else's contents in a property they didn't own at the time fall under the requirements of the act?

Hint, tell me how a subsequent purchaser of the home becomes a data subject as defined, and how MyHome as the alleged data controller in this case asserts a relationship between the subsequent owner and the information they have on file?
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Leo,

You, and a few others in this thread, are over complicating this.

Your home address is personal data. Combined with other personal data, you can be identified.

Pictures and videos of your home with your personal address tagged to it is an invasion of privacy. Would you like it if pics and vids of inside and outside of your home was on youtube, with your address tagged to it?

Because that is what we are talking about here. On a lesser scale, it may just be phitos on daft but many home now are on youtube...and I repeat again - with your home address tagged to it and therefore searchable.
 
ArthurMcB said:
But it is. Thats the point. As is a phone number. Please see below from the data protection website:

. Personal data can cover various types of information, such as name, date of birth, email address, phone number, address, physical characteristics, or location data – once it is clear to whom that information relates, or it is reasonably possible to find out.

I rest my case.
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Personal data can cover etc. etc. An address is only personal data when it identifies an individual. You're reading way too much into one paragraph with qualifying language on the DPC website. That paragraph is not the law and it does not read "an address is always personal data".

The definition of ‘personal data’ under GDPR means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person

The photos of the house described do not meet this definition. It's actually worrying that someone arguing the contrary has claimed that they work in this area. Bizarre.
 
24601 said:
Personal data can cover etc. etc. An address is only personal data when it identifies an individual. You're reading way too much into one paragraph with qualifying language on the DPC website. That paragraph is not the law and it does not read "an address is always personal data
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But nonetheless, i think we can both agree that your home address is personal data?

If you dont agree, please revisit the links I sent wherein it clearly states that your address is personal data. And if you think about it, how could it not be? Your phone number is so why wouldnt your hone address be.

So moving on from that...the law also states (and logic would also dictate) that your home addres combined with other personal data could make you identifiable. Agreed? Its there in black and white. Shouldnt even be debatable.

So if your home adress, which is your personal data, is on youtube along with a 4 minute video of your house, inside and out, would that not be conaidered your personal data and would that not be considered objectionable from a privacy standpoint? Its my view, that it would be.

What specific point am I making that you disagree with? Im a reasonable person and am open to correction if persuasive enough.
 
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ArthurMcB said:
Your home address is personal data. Combined with other personal data, you can be identified.

Pictures and videos of your home with your personal address tagged to it is an invasion of privacy. Would you like it if pics and vids of inside and outside of your home was on youtube, with your address tagged to it?
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Your star sign is not personal data but when combined with other personal data you can be identified. Your eye colour is not personal data but when combined with other personal data you can be identified. Your favourite song is not personal data but when combined with other personal data you can be identified.

You may not like the idea of photos of your house and address being published online but that in itself does not make them personal data.
 
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