Companies use information about citizens from citizens' private online domains. Citizens consent to companies having access to the domains because it may benefit them, such as when they are trying to get a rental property.
Information via apps
In principle, online private domains such as MijnOverheid and MijnBelastingdienst are locked behind DigiD and thus only accessible to citizens themselves. However, companies can gain access to the private domains by asking citizens to share their login details. This is done, for example, through special apps, in which citizens enter their DigiD so that information can be retrieved from the domains.
For example, some housing associations ask citizens who want to respond to a rental property to enter their DigiD into an app. When they do so, information about their income and previous residential addresses is then retrieved.
Privacy violation?
Because citizens themselves consent to the sharing of data, there is in principle no violation of privacy. In fact, the companies themselves emphasize that their way of working offers an opportunity to reduce the circulation of personal data, because this way all data can be stored and analyzed in one place.
Still, there are question marks about the modus operandi of the companies in question. The Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (AP) wonders, for example, whether an unnecessary amount of data is shared through the apps and whether citizens are properly informed before giving permission to access private online domains.
