Q: We are an employment agency dealing with overseas domestic helpers. Some employers complained to us that their domestic servants, without obtaining their prior permissions, gave their home addresses and telephone numbers to third parties for their personal purposes such as applying for mobile phones or socialising with friends. The question is whether such disclosure contravenes the Ordinance.
A: Please note that a telephone number or address alone does not constitute the personal data of any individual. Neither a telephone number nor an address alone satisfies the condition in paragraph (b) of the definition of "personal data" as defined in section 2 of the Ordinance. It is because the identity of an employer is not directly or indirectly ascertainable from the telephone number or the address alone. Unless the telephone number or address is accompanied by the name of the employer and provided that it is in recorded form, it does not amount to "personal data" of the employer within the definition of the Ordinance. In other words, the Ordinance is not engaged at all.
For the sake of argument, assuming that it does fall within the Ordinance, we tend to take the view that there is no breach in the requirement of the Ordinance by a domestic helper in using the telephone number and/or address of her workplace as a means of contacting herself.