Personal data of Lebanese registered to vote abroad were compromised

In February 2018, the Lebanese embassies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Hague sent an email to the Lebanese residents in their respective countries with the personal details of Lebanese citizens registered to vote for the parliamentary elections to confirm their registration details. While the embassy in the UAE exposed the details of more than 5000 Lebanese citizens, the embassy in the Hague sent the email to just over 200 recipients. A further compromise of the voters’ database was revealed on 29 March 2018 when a Lebanese citizen living in Paris received a message from a candidate in the election, who got access to the voters’ information that was intended for someone else. The citizen believes this might have happened because his mobile number was used to register other voters. Commentators argue that these incidents show that ‘the legal framework for data protection in Lebanon is weak.’