The Student Life Centre sent an e-mail which leaked the e-mails of all those who have used the centre. Photo: sussex.ac.uk

An email providing a list of the email addresses of attendees of the Student Life Centre has left students feeling outraged at the privacy infringement.

The data was leaked on Monday 17 May in an email asking people to complete a feedback survey on what their experience of the Student Life Centre had been like.

A student said: “Presumably all the email addresses in the ‘To:’ field show everyone who has used the Student Life Centre; this is a breach of privacy.”

Moreover, the student directory on Sussex Direct provides a link that shows all the names and course details of those with university email addresses.

Although the student email addresses were used in such a way in that they could be seen by recipients, other than that no personal information concerning students experience at the Centre was distributed.

Rachel Gould, Head of the Student Life Centre, said: “I feel particularly disappointed both for the students concerned and for the staff here, given that this has happened as an unwelcome by-product of our evaluation and especially as the results of the questionnaire had been encouraging and positive.”

James Hakner, Communications Officer at the University of Sussex, said: “The University offers an unreserved apology to the students concerned since email addresses should not have been given out in this way to other students.”

The existing protocol for email communications means that this error should not have happened and for this reason was a clear breach of university processes.

All staff have been reminded by Internal Communications Staff of the correct protocols to use when sending emails to groups of students.

Staff at the Student Life Centre wished to reassure students who use their services that personal information given to the Centre is kept securely and confidentially.

Categories: News

3 Comments

Student Life Centre leaks identities of student visitors

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