Is data protection overkill? The man’s desire to help his mother runs into “double standards” in the municipality

Edmunds says that while helping his mom with the payments, he had a misunderstanding about the real estate tax bill amounts.

The mother is from Riga, so the man contacted the Property Department of the Riga City Council.

On the first day, Edmund was denied help because he was the one requesting the information, not his mother.

After some time, he called back and was able to clarify everything by mentioning the information he had already provided.

“It’s strange the double standards. It’s as if there should be one standard within one institution that they follow in such cases to protect that personal data, but often it’s used as some kind of caveat,” concludes Edmunds.

In its comment, the Data State Inspectorate states that authorities should reduce the risks of information and data leakage by telephone, information should only be available to the real estate owner. It would be a breach of security if information were to be provided without verification.

Mārtiņš Vilemsons, the Acting Head of the External Communication Department of the Riga City Council, notes that information can and is provided over the phone so as not to burden residents with bureaucratic processes.

However, staff may also withhold information if there are doubts about the caller.

To prevent this from happening, the municipality invites residents of the capital to register at “eRiga.lv” and create their own security password, which only the owner and a relative or trusted person know.

This password can then be used in communication with municipal employees to obtain the necessary information.