Hundreds of tenants have requested their personal information from TINZ

[artemis]

Appears to be an initiative from Renters United which has provided a form to send to TINZ to make a request under the Privacy Act to find out if they were in the TINZ tenant database, request a copy of their information and request the removal of information gathered without their consent. Renters United are not happy with the TINZ response and have replied in rebuttal.

More info here:

http://www.rentersunited.org.nz/update-tinz-bad-tenant-database-requests/

[Bobsyouruncle]

Haha that's funny. They object to TINZ confirming their identity? Good on TINZ.

[cesami20]

TINZ is good for good tenants. If tenants are bad then landlords will of course give bad ratings. It will be helpful for other landlords. The TT is not fair for landlords. TINZ actually serves better than the TT for landlords. Good on TINZ!!

[Wellington Broker]

Given how prevalent identity theft is online I'd be concerned about any company which was publicising or sharing my ID. Sounds like TINZ are struggling to operate within NZ law

[Perry]

Given that it is not all that difficult to spoof e-mail addresses, this assertion is somewhat dubious.

However, this obligation will be met by their sending of an email from their own address (many of which you will hold on file). We note s 24 of the Electronic Transactions Act 2002.

[artemis]

Given how prevalent identity theft is online I'd be concerned about any company which was publicising or sharing my ID. Sounds like TINZ are struggling to operate within NZ law

AFAIK information about tenants is only available to members, apart from requests from tenants themselves. Plus most of the information held is publicly available anyway.

[Keys]

However, this obligation will be met by their sending of an email from their own address (many of which you will hold on file). We note s 24 of the Electronic Transactions Act 2002.

I see they fail to note Section 22 (2) as it is obvious that TINZ has refused the option of an electronic signature.

[PTWhatAGreatForum]

Appears to be an initiative from Renters United which has provided a form to send to TINZ to make a request under the Privacy Act to find out if they were in the TINZ tenant database, request a copy of their information and request the removal of information gathered without their consent. Renters United are not happy with the TINZ response and have replied in rebuttal.

More info here:

http://www.rentersunited.org.nz/upda...base-requests/

It appears TINZ is at it again.

I complained to the Privacy Commissioner in 2014 about TINZ and resondingly won. The Privacy Commissioner found that TINZ was required under the Privacy Act to fulfill my request in the manner which I had provided it and I was under no obligation to submit their aptly-named "Privacy Waiver".

This is what I recommend people do as I (and possibly others) have already set the precedent. Keep slam-dunking TINZ until they abide by the law.

Haha that's funny. They object to TINZ confirming their identity? Good on TINZ.

Given that it is not all that difficult to spoof e-mail addresses, this assertion is somewhat dubious.

Your opinions are worth just that. TINZ has been found in breach and I have figuratively-framed the decision. Why do you believe the law should only apply selectively ie: only when it suits the landlord (no doubt)?

For your reference, this is the law:

http://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0028/latest/DLM296639.html?src=qs

Given that it is not all that difficult to spoof e-mail addresses, this assertion is somewhat dubious.

As I am a Internet industry technical professional of many years and by qualification, can you please explain to me how a "spoofed" email address would apply, in this instance?

Say, someone was to misappropriate my email address michael@***.nz, firstly, it would end up spam-scored at the remote end (Due to SPF / DKIM fails), and secondly the reply is going to come to me....?

[Perry]

As I am a Internet industry technical professional of many years and by qualification, can you please explain to me how a "spoofed" email address would apply, in this instance?

From my limited experience, it's usually done via hacking webmail, via a browser.

[PTWhatAGreatForum]

From my limited experience, it's usually done via hacking webmail, via a browser.

From my experience, it's morons who had over their passwords via phishing emails.

[sidinz]

From my experience, it's morons who had over their passwords via phishing emails.

Not so. I've had my email hacked and I haven't given info to phishing sites. I've seen other people hacked and even whole providers have been hacked. I believe it was Yahoo a few years ago, who sent me an email about having been hacked.

But if they accept emails out of the blue, what's to stop someone setting up a hotmail/gmail etc. account in that name?

[PTWhatAGreatForum]

I believe it was Yahoo a few years ago, who sent me an email about having been hacked.

Yahoo is **** and has been for a long time.

But if they accept emails out of the blue, what's to stop someone setting up a hotmail/gmail etc. account in that name?

We are not talking about that. In my case, I provided them with adequate information however they demanded it was provided on their form which I refused to do because it contained clauses (1 or 2 from memory) which I construed were an attempt to affect my rights under the Privacy Act.

I made a complaint and it was upheld in it's entireity - They lost in other words.

I have a very good knowledge of the Privacy Act so any organisation who wants to play silly buggars will likely find themselves lined up behind TINZ and others who I have complained about and prevailed.

It is concerning to see TINZ is still up to their same old **** and I hope they now get clobbered. I will be contacting Renters United about this.

[sidinz]

Michael, a while back, you were considering getting a rental property, which was going to be quite a reach for you, financially. If you had gone ahead, would you really not want to be able to find out if that nice couple who just applied to rent it actually had a trail of destruction and debt arrears behind them?

[PTWhatAGreatForum]

Michael, a while back, you were considering getting a rental property, which was going to be quite a reach for you, financially. If you had gone ahead, would you really not want to be able to find out if that nice couple who just applied to rent it actually had a trail of destruction and debt arrears behind them?

Typical landlordary response - When something is inconvenient, change the subject.

TINZ has been found in breach of the Privacy Act and it would appear this is widespread and no amount of diversionary is going to change that.

[sidinz]

Typical landlordary response - When something is inconvenient, change the subject.

How is this a change of subject? Aren't we talking about the database where landlords can check that their potential tenants have not caused other landlords big problems?