The situation that occurs to the journalists who attend the morning conferences given by the president of Mexico is definitely delicate, who unfortunately find themselves in a state of defenselessness and vulnerability, due to the publication of their personal data on the internet, which occurred last Friday. January 26, 2024. Perhaps what is most impactful is the warning that the impact occurs on the personal databases that are in the possession of the Office of the Presidency.
Today I dedicate these words in search of explaining the matter and, thereby, raising awareness about the need to protect your personal data, achieve empathy with the affected journalists and, of course, learn from the case to be in a position to act in the event. of being involved in a similar situation.
Let us note that personal identification data was published, which may mean a breach of personal databases, which in simple terms may be due to theft, unauthorized access, unauthorized copying or loss of personal data in the Office of the Presidency.
The above implies an impact on informative self-determination, since these people dedicated to journalism did not decide to publish their personal data on the Internet, not in terms of identification and private addresses; In a serious manner, it is noted that the exposure of all this data may imply a risk to their physical and property integrity, the first due to the location that these people and their families may have in crime or radical people who do not share their opinions, and the second, in the event of possible identity theft that may cause economic damage.
What should the authorities do? In the case of the authority that suffered the violation, it has 72 hours to inform the owners and the INAI that the violation existed; Based on the above, the INAI can initiate investigation and verification procedures, in which it orders measures that the Office of the Presidency must execute as a consequence of this violation.
What could those affected do? Every owner of personal data has the right to file a complaint with the INAI, for which they can download formats to help them (published by the INAI), or do so in free writing, they can even go to the institute to be offered advice on the subject; Based on the complaint, it will be determined whether or not to initiate the investigation and the verification procedure.
It should be noted that the INAI has the power to monitor and verify compliance with the law, so in its work as a watchdog, it is attentive to social events, so that based on knowledge of this violation, it has received the report by the Office of the Presidency, as well as some complaints presented by the affected people, this regardless of initiating an investigation ex officio in order to determine the corresponding responsibilities.
It is a mistake to minimize the consequences of disclosing our personal data, it is important to take care of its exposure and to whom we give it, since it is surely easier to avoid leaving copies of our identification in places where they are not needed, for example, in photocopiers, than the having to justify an identity theft to a bank, and even more so, make a change of address in case we feel exposed or that our family members are put at risk.
