BRATISLAVA, May 21, (WEBNOVINY) – The Office of the Prosecutor General will probably deal with the 2011 Census of People, Houses and Apartments. On the eve of the decisive moment of the census, the Statistics Office of the Slovak Republic announced it will file a criminal motion against the Office for Personal Data Protection at the beginning of next week. On Friday, the Personal Data Protection Office called on the Statistics Office to immediately revise some procedures in the already begun census, stated Eva Kelemenova, spokeswoman of the Statistics Office.
According to the Office for Personal Data Protection, the ongoing census is not anonymous, as the Statistics Office claims. The unique identifier code that is to be attached to the census form or when filling in the form on-line allows connecting it directly with the person who entered the data. The Personal Data Protection Office claims that information provided by the Statistics Office is incomplete and incorrect. The office further recommends in a statement published on its Internet website that the Statistics Office reconsider the duty to stick the identifier on the forms and make it voluntary. Furthermore, the Statistics Office should provide more detailed information on how it will use the collected data.
“The Statistics Office of the Slovak Republic considers the doings of the Office for Personal Data Protection to be purposive, jeopardizing the census and seriously damaging the reputation of the Statistics Office,” Kelemenova wrote in the statement. On Friday, representatives of both offices met to discuss the anonymity issue of the census together. The spokesperson explains that the Office for Personal Data Protection asked the Statistics Office to submit additional explanatory documents by Tuesday. “Through its press release, the Office for Personal Data Protection has already closed the topic without being acquainted with the documents and analyzing them”, Kelemenova stated. The Statistics Office does not consider the data protection office’s statement to be binding, as it was not delivered in an official way. The Statistics Office will dedicate further attention to the issue at a news conference on Sunday, May 22.
As the Statistics Office explained earlier, the identification code that people will stick on forms or use upon filling out the form on-line is a means to prevent duplicate count.
SITA
