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Data Inspection Board criticizes LiU
The Swedish Data Inspection Board has criticized Linköping University for its handling of personal data in connection with the ABIS II study, which covers 17,000 children in south-eastern Sweden.
The aim of the study is to investigate why Type 1 diabetes and allergies are so common among Swedish children. In the second part, now under way, tests are being conducted on participating children ages 8, 12, and 14. Information on the study was sent out to all participating schools to be forwarded to all the children and their parents.
One parent of a then-11-year-old girl at a school in Mullsjö addressed a complaint to the Data Inspection Board. He did not believe he had given consent to personal data and strands of hair being collected, which according to the Privacy Act (PuL) is required regarding children under the age of 15.
In its decision, the Data Inspection Board established that LiU handled personal data in violation of the PuL. The university neither submitted sufficient information nor obtained consent according to the law. If LiU wishes to use the information collected, it must be supplemented and valid consent obtained from the registered participants.
Rector Helen Dannetun emphasizes that the university takes the criticism very seriously.
“We will now conduct a careful review of the case and determine what measures need to be taken,” she says.
According to Professor Johnny Ludvigsson, project leader for the study, both parents and children, as well as teachers and principals, were carefully informed through letters and videos.
The university’s personal data attorney, Eli Hjorth Reksten, agrees with the Data Inspection Board’s criticism that express permission should have been obtained from the parents.
“We fell short there; it could be that the information for the parents didn’t always reach them.”
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Page responsible:
anna.nilsen@liu.se
Last updated: 2013-05-22
