“simply copying the text of the PDF and pasting it into another program reveals the so called redacted data..“
A: When it hasn’t been redacted properly!
As you might know we provide IT support to Parish Councils and Town Councils in our fine county. It is interesting and rewarding work, but it does not come without it’s share of unique challenges.
Earlier today I was doing some research and found that one of our District Councils have made an error with how they have redacted documents. In two examples I have found a PDF file in the public domain that has had certain text “blacked out” but simply copying the text of the PDF and pasting it into another program reveals the so called redacted data.
I have of course alerted the District Council to the problem, a properly obfuscated section of my email is shown in the image below.
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Clearly there are a number of problems here:
- Lack of suitable knowledge within the council (staff do not know how to properly and safely redact text).
- Breaches of privacy (data that should not be in the public domain is in the public domain).
- There are very likely going to be other documents that have been “redacted” by the council that have not been redacted properly.
With this in mind I have recommended that the council immediately searches for and inspect all “redacted” documents to make sure they have been redacted properly and even reports this as a data breach to the ICO.
This is not the first time I have seen this type of problem, in one case (for a different council) the “redaction” could simply be deleted!
I will keep you posted, I have asked the council in question to respond and of course we have offered our services to the council who can take advantage of our Community Technology Programme.