Not all online information can be deleted for privacy reasons. privacy, even more so when the data is processed by Public Bodies and when such data, even if classified as personal (such as name and surname), does not allow the subjects to whom it refers to to be recognised.
This is what the third section of the Civil Court of Cassation in a ruling (filed on October 13th) that saw an Italian municipality challenge several individuals who had their personal data entered in two resolutions published by the institution in its online public notice board.
On the one hand, according to the Supreme Court, the publication and disclosure of documents which determine the diffusion of personal data must be considered lawful if foreseen (as in this case, since the municipal administration could not have fulfill to the purpose of the act in a manner other than that implemented) by a law or regulation – while the deadline set by art. 124 of Legislative Decree 267/2000 (publication on the public notice board for 15 consecutive days) cannot be considered peremptory (as indirectly confirmed by the guidelines contained in Legislative Decree 33/2013 which, regulating advertising for transparency purposes, has established its duration at 5 years);
On the other hand, the content of the two municipal resolutions – which respectively reported the name and surname of the current respondents, as well as the license plate and model of the car owned by one of them, and the personal data of one of the appellants, supplemented by the note of the injury to his right knee sustained following the fall in the municipal hall – does not make the subject "identifiable" unless associated with other identifying elements (date and place of birth, abode, residence, domicile, tax code, work activity) and if placed in a broader social context such as that of the city to which the respondents belong.
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