So the JSE says there was no data breach involved in the leak of David Rose’s trading information to Our Today.  So how did it get out?

In case you weren’t following the story, let me bring you up to speed.  On July 13, OurToday published an article which included, among other things, a report of specific trades made by journalist David Rose.  The article accused David of manipulating NCB’s stock price.

Allegations aside, many people questioned how OurToday got David’s personal trading information, and whether his broker may have violated data protection rules.

I also called on the JSE to clarify what reasonable expectation of data privacy investors are entitled to.

Well, the JSE released a statement on July 23 saying that it’s investigated the matter.

“Based on the forensic analysis undertaken, there is no evidence of any compromise of the Jamaica Stock Exchange’s infrastructure or network, nor any unauthorised or suspicious access to the personal data in question,” it states.

I find that wording rather curious.  Because if it was the broker that leaked the information, their access would not have been unauthorized nor suspicious.  It’s the sharing of the information with a third party that would have constituted the breach.  The access is not in question; it’s the sharing, so this statement really doesn’t address the issue.  It also doesn’t address my question – what level of data protection and privacy are investors entitled to from their brokers?

Now there are other ways that information could have been leaked.  It didn’t necessarily have to come from the broker.  For example, every day, the Company Secretary of listed companies receive a full report of all the people who bought and sold shares in their company that day.  I imagine David’s name is on those lists very often.  Who has access to those lists?  And are there any rules regarding what they can and can’t do with it?  Questions, questions.

Meanwhile, Managing Director of the Jamaica Stock Exchange, Marlene Street Forrest, is calling on the Financial Services Commission (FSC) to set standards regarding ethical behaviour in financial journalism.  This is what she told Nationwide News.

Now I agree with that. Journalists should disclose whether they have an interest in companies they’re reporting on.  This is now our policy at Money Media.

But Mrs. Street Forrest nor the FSC nor the Office of the Information Commissioner still have not commented on my main question, which I’ll repeat again: What level of data protection can investors on the Jamaica Stock Exchange reasonably and legally expect?  

Because if there was no breach as the JSE’s statement says, then one may infer that the information was legally shared.  And if that’s the case, should we all be concerned?

And that’s the bottom line.