Personal Data Protection In Argentina

[sebas]

Hi,

I have a web site where people can register and login.

Recently we received a contact from someone requesting details of someone else's account details.

We replied saying that we don't give out personal data. The person requesting the data then replied saying please give them the data or they would sue us for the information.

Does anyone know what our rights and obligations are with regards to this?

Under what circumstances can we be obliged to hand over personal information?

How should I reply to this person if I do not wish to hand over the account details?

Any constructive suggestions or help, gratefully received!

 

[Montauk_Project]

Are they the police? Do they have a search warrent? I can call up anyone and demand anything, this does not mean that you have an obligation to respond.
I would not respond anymore, it could be a scam or a criminal.

 

[wineguy999]

Someone cannot "sue" you for information, and can only obtain a court order if they are a legitimate agency or acting through one.

 

[camino no tomado]

First a caveat: I'm a lawyer with extensive training in both privacy law and internet law ... in Canada. As we all know, in Argentina, that and a bunch of pesos will get me a medialuna.

Nevertheless, even with my limited knowledge of Argentine law, I'm 100% convinced you're dealing with a nutter. Argentina's data privacy protection laws are fairly modern--the relevant statute in this case is the Personal Data Protection Law (No. 25,326). Any maintainer of a database that contains information that could identify an individual should be familiar with their obligations under said law (they are not onerous in cases like yours). The enforcement agency is the Dirección Nacional de Protección de los Datos Personales (National Personal Data Protection Agency) whose contact details are:

Sarmiento 1118 – 5th Floor
City of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Zip code: C1041AAX
T (0054)11 4383 8512

www.jus.gov.ar/datos-personales.aspx

As the previous poster suggested, you are generally safe to ignore crazy requests or demands to supply private data unless they are made by a branch of law enforcement. If you were to comply with such a request made by other than law enforcement, you are much more likely to be committing an offence than by ignoring it.

 

[sebas]

Thank you for all your replies. Very reassuring.

I'll leave it, if the guy persists I'll ask for an official court document requesting the information.