The 56 Dean Street clinic emailed nearly 800 HIV-positive patients, failing to hide their email addresses. BuzzFeed News spoke to two shocked patients on the list.
A leading HIV clinic has accidentally revealed the identities of hundreds of HIV-positive patients in a group email.
56 Dean Street
Matthew Tucker / BuzzFeed
In a major breach of personal data around 780 people who attend 56 Dean Street in central London – Europe's busiest sexual health centre – received the email on Tuesday, 1 September.
The e-newsletter, which contains the latest information about HIV services and treatment, is sent out monthly but normally the details of recipients are hidden. Instead the full list of recipients was visible, therefore revealing the fact that everyone in the address bar is HIV-positive. The clinic then sent an email trying to recall the original one, alerting patients to the mistake, before sending a further email apologising.
"I was outraged," a patient at 56 Dean Street, whose boyfriend also received the email, told BuzzFeed News. "I thought it was disgusting that I was seeing a massive list of their patients. It's not difficult to deduce the HIV status of every single one of those people. So I have their full names, their email address. I could easily put any of those details into Facebook and bring up pictures and personal details."
This is the email that was sent to patients:
56 Dean Street