Nuenen accidentally leaks addresses of 1,000 asylum center opponents

The municipality of Nuenen in Noord-Brabant inadvertently shared the addresses of more than 1,000 residents who had filed objections to the establishment of a temporary asylum seekers center, the local government reported.

According to Omroep Brabant, the addresses were sent to multiple recipients in preparation for a hearing by the objections committee. The municipality said the shared documents contained no names or other personal information, only addresses. “Addresses can, however, be indirectly linked to individuals, so this is considered a data breach,” Nuenen stated.

The municipality notified the Dutch Data Protection Authority due to the scale of the incident. Recipients of the document have been asked to delete it and not share it further. Nuenen also said it has tightened procedures for sending documents to the objections committee.

“Documents were sent out for the hearing of the objections committee regarding the temporary asylum center,” the municipality said. “In one of the documents, data of objectors was shared. There are no names or other personal details mentioned in the document, only addresses. Because addresses can be indirectly traced back to individuals, this is considered a data leak. Due to the number of addresses involved, we are reporting it to the Data Protection Authority. We request that recipients delete the document and do not share it. The process for sending documents to the objections committee has been strengthened.”