A woman in Kazakhstan has raised doubts about the security of the eOtinish platform after, she says, three men came to her home, apparently because of a complaint she had filed. JSC National Information Technologies (NIT) commented on the situation, the website infohub.kz reports.
The post appeared on the account jarygym_l. Its author said that filing complaints with government agencies through eOtinish may be unsafe.
According to the woman, she noticed a strange pattern: after she filed complaints through e-Otinish, she received calls from the people she had complained about, asking her to withdraw the complaints.
“I understood that my personal data was probably somehow becoming available to third parties, but I did not attach much importance to it. After all, it was only about phone calls. But today the situation reached a completely different level. Three men came to my home. They said they had come because of my complaint. I did not open the door and asked where they had got my home address. They replied that the local police officer had given it to them,” the Kazakh woman wrote.
According to her, the local police officer denies passing her personal data to anyone. In the end, the author asked for an investigation into the leak of personal data.
“How normal is it that a person who has exercised their legal right to file a complaint ends up facing something like this? Now people are getting home addresses and coming to a person’s home. And what next? Threats? Pressure? Physical reprisals? Perhaps someone will say that they just wanted to talk, apologize or ask for the complaint to be withdrawn. But since when does that require finding out someone else’s home address and coming to the person in a group of three? I always believed that e-Otinish is a tool that allows citizens to protect their rights,” the post says.
The author admitted that she had begun to wonder how safe it is to use this system at all if the personal data of complainants can end up with the people they complain about.
“Right now I really feel uncomfortable and unsafe. And I want an answer to one simple question: who is passing personal data to third parties, and on what grounds?” the Kazakh woman asked.
A NUR.KZ correspondent sent a request to the press service of JSC National Information Technologies. It replied that when a complaint is filed through the eOtinish platform, the complainant gives consent to the processing of personal data.
“At the same time, the complainant’s personal data is pulled from the State Database ‘Individuals’ (SDB IL). This information is necessary for the full processing of citizens’ appeals. JSC NIT provides technical support for the eOtinish platform. Responsibility for reviewing appeals and for the lawful use of complainants’ personal data rests with the relevant government agencies,” the response to the request said.
JSC added that if employees of a government agency contacted a complainant asking them to withdraw an appeal, the complainant has the right to file a complaint about their actions with the relevant government agency.