Redaction means remove not hide

A helpful post from DPO Daily. There are recurring themes on the DPO Daily, subjects to which I return to reinforce what I think are the building blocks of doing well in a data protection role - scepticism, attention to detail, the importance of selling what you're doing.

And then sometimes, I return to a topic because we all need to keep shouting about it until every last person with a document to redact listens. PUTTING A BLACK BLOCK ON THE TEXT YOU WANT TO REMOVE DOESN'T WORK.

Read this story to see why I say this: https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/2023/03/15/investigation-launched-after-personal-data-is-made-available-on-lichfield-district-councils-website/

And breathe.

The aim of redaction is simple: remove, don't hide. Either use a specialist redaction tool. general design software that allows you to turn documents into images, or read the National Archives' Redaction Toolkit.

Click here to get it: https://cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/information-management/redaction_toolkit.pdf

Treat every redaction job as a delicate, important task needing your full attention. Check to see if it has worked before moving on. If you don't know how to check, learn. Ask someone who does.