Blunder exposes 83,000 Kiwi quake claimants' details
Details of every claimant in the New Zealand Government's Canterbury home repair programme have been disclosed by accident, the country's Earthquake Commission (EQC) said.
A spreadsheet emailed by the commission containing claim numbers and addresses of properties could be set to reveal details of from all 83,000 people who have filed 98,000 claims in the wake of the devastating Christchurch earthquake, the commission's chief executive Ian Simpson told New Zealand media this afternoon.
The Earthquake Commission is New Zealand's government agency in charge of providing relief to residential property owners after natural disasters. Simpson explained that the privacy breach occurred when an employee sent out a messages to other commission members, and the auto-complete function of the email program added the address of a third-party contractor.
