Trafi DG resigns over drivers data privacy controversy

The Director General of the Finnish Transport Safety Agency (Trafi), Mia Nykopp has resigned on Thursday after a privacy breach that allowed open online access of all to details about every driver in the country, said an official press release.

“In order to calm down the situation around Trafi's public driver data service and to restore trust, I have decided to step down from my position as Director-General of Trafi,” Nykopp said in a statement issued by the Ministry of Communications and Transport on Thursday.

Until the end of the year, Olli Lindroos, Director of the Means of Transport division at Trafi, will act as Trafi's Director-General.

Trafi’s driver data e-service allows to look up whether a person has a valid right to drive (a driver’s licence) or some other corresponding entitlement for driving.

On December 9, Trafi disconnected all its electronic services to ensure that the driver data service was closed.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Transport and Communications received from the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority the first preliminary expert opinion it had requested concerning the data protection of the electronic services provided by the Finnish Transport Safety Agency, Trafi.

It also received an assessment by the Director-General of Trafi on whether other parts of Trafi's e-services than the driver data service could be legally and safely taken into use.

The Ministry states that the requested reports were received within the set time limit and they have now been examined. Since there are still risks involved in the opening up of Trafi's electronic services, they will be opened up one by one.

The aim is to take the first services into use as soon as possible. They will be made operational again as the Communications Regulatory Authority assesses it to be possible. Information on the specific timetables will be issued as soon as they are available.