Address /DOB should be omitted from entry cards. - Data protection

Ken Trollope · Post by **Ken Trollope** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 2:53 pm

[(Age is no good, as you do not move up by having a birthday, it is your age on 1st Jan)
]
Not Quite right Colin although a lot of paddlers make that mistake. Your paddling age is whatever age you become during that year. If your 14th birthday next year is on the 1st of Jan or 31st December you are still a J14 born in 1995.
2009-1995 = 14 or 109-95 =14
I use that formula on my start list spread sheet to check that the J/U23/DV declared is correct.

80-1219672301 · Post by **80-1219672301** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 4:32 pm

Have to say I'm a little disappointed at how a subscriber to this thread has been treated.

I would have thought a little more courtesy would have been in order folks. Publishing people's personal information even to prove a point is not in my opinion acceptable behaviour no matter how much you disagree with someone.

I think an apology is in order especially as these kind of postings will deter others from joining in threads and airing their opinions which all have value and can contribute to the evolution of this sport.

As Katonas says they are only thinking of fellow paddler interests.

Healthy disagreement - yes, Personal attack - definitely not

Dee · Post by **Dee** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 10:52 pm

Munchkin
If you are paddling as a Senior there is no need to supply dob.

Dob is however required for DV, U23, and all Junior categories

Seedy Paddler · Post by **Seedy Paddler** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 11:56 pm

I feel no requirement to apologise, the posting

Posted: Dec. 09 2008,12:44

I found to be offensive, derogatory and abusive to Organisers. Remember that we not only have the sports best interests at heart we also expend significant time, effort and often finance to provide the events that ensure there is a sport.

There was no sensitive information published albeit the clear statement was that it was available to hand. Although much was made on the required secrecy of DoB - this was previously published with every posting and available for public view - in the same manner that this information is available for Canadian Paddler; Dee; Munchkin and myself. Indeed it was a PM from myself this morning that prompted an amendment for Katonas.

I bear him no ill will, there was validity in some of the debate, however we must also be cognisant of the organisers requirements and facilities available. I transfer data between home desk top, lap-top and on stick to work and colleagues PCs. Having a mobile ranking list with 100s of names addresses etc is a far greater risk than a relatively small number of entry cards. I know from bitter experience that we can lose PC operations and have to ensure that I can manually run the event (there is no mains available at our site). So I would also have to have all that information on paper, again this poses a far greater risk than a few cards.

More importantly much of this information is available through the internet and with a little intuition and lateral thinking it is quite alarming the amount of information that can be dredged up very quickly.

If this thread remains only as a reminder to all to be circumspect in how they handle such information and what they post to internet sites then it will have been a very valid and worthwhile addition, hence I thank Katonas for his prompting and may even try for a personal introduction should we both venture to Tully sometime next year.

Post by **SteveM** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 12:16 am

As requested I've removed some personal information from earlier posts.

This is a useful debate - for instance on this board if you enter your birthday then it's public info. People sometimes seem to forget the internet is not just on their PC.

Personally I don't have too much of a problem with this, my real name, interests etc are all over the place. It might come back and bite me on the bum one day though

However I have to say that as someone responsible for data protection in my work, address and date of birth info should be taken quite seriously. To meet the requirements of the Data Protection Act reasonable measures must be taken to protect the information from casual onlookers, and documents must be destroyed (not just dropped in a bin) when no longer needed.

I've not competed for some time but from what I remember the wooden contraptions with see-through panels don't really protect our data.

The flip side of this is that it's all public knowledge anyway. Phone numbers, post code lookups, births/marriages/deaths are all in the public domain. If your name and region are known from the ranking list the rest can be worked out pretty quickly. Pity the banks don't seem to realise this and use all this public info as "security".

Tricky subject.

Steve

Edited By SteveM on 1228955227

Canadian Paddler · Post by **Canadian Paddler** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 8:27 am

WARNING GEEK ALERT

Ken, it is six of one half dozen of teh other. If you are under 14 on 1st Jan, you paddle as Junior 14, (eg Under 14.)

But on a technical front the rules actually state
championships(7 page 55) ..competitors whos 12th, 14th, 16th or18th falls on or after January 1st. . .
vets (6.1, page 61) any competitor who is over 34 on 1st January. . .
Junior(3.5 page 67) ... birthday on or after 1st January

So I would submit that the 1st january statement is more correct.

In the real world though, year of birth is sufficient.

Munchkin · Post by **Munchkin** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 9:21 am

Thanks Dee.

ukkayaker · Post by **ukkayaker** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:35 pm

A simple solution would just be to ensure that cards cannot be removed in the first place? Behind a screen etc.?

If you spent every minute of your life worrying you'd spend your whole life in bed surrounded by bubble wrap.

There are many tools for finding information out; address/name directory search sites, facebook, myspace and websites directories related to car information. They all provide information. Its the world we live in.

jim croft · Post by **jim croft** » Thu Dec 25, 2008 6:59 am

Well said
Happy Christmas to all & a good New Year
:O Jim

Dee · Post by **Dee** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 5:02 pm

Jim,

What on earth were you doing on the chatter boards on Christmas morning - was it just an excuse to avoid helping stuff the turkey!

Dee

jim croft · Post by **jim croft** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 12:25 pm

??? Dee when you get my age you don't know what day of the week it is, but of course you only a slip of a lass
Happy New Year
Jim :O

Spiderman · Post by **Spiderman** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 12:17 am

Message for Stephen as when I tried to send you a private message it said "This person is not allowed to receive personal messages" !!!! No idea what thats all about but if Admin or you can resolve it, it would obviously assist

Good to see you today

I confirm receipt of the dosh and will sort a disc out for you at some point and hand it to you at a slalom

Keep up the training matey and Im sure you will trash that 10 second barrier! lol

Laterzzzzz

PP