Media in BiH should not have published personal data and so lightly linked people to terrorists

Some media outlets in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region have published personal data of about 80 Bosnian citizens, claiming they are linked to the terrorist organisation ISIL, citing the hacker group Anonymous from Croatia.

Prior to this, the media reported that the hacker group Anonymous announced in a video message that they are at war with terrorists in BiH, after which they published a list of about 80 citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina allegedly linked to terrorists.

The Nezavisne portal reported that a member of the Anonymous group told this media outlet that they will expose all terrorists from BiH.

However, the public disclosure of people's personal data in such a manner was deemed unacceptable by media experts in BiH, who warn that this should not have happened without additional verification, as it is now evident that the lives of people on those lists are endangered.

The Director of the Press Council of BiH, Ljiljana Zurovac, told the Bosnian news agency Patria that if the media took citizens' personal data from a Facebook page, be it Anonymous or someone else, then they also assumed responsibility if something eventually happens to those people, and it is possible that something might happen because the situation is very tense.

- Anonymous do what they do, but a journalist must thoroughly verify when taking over information, especially when it comes to sensitive topics like terrorism, and particularly when linking individuals to terrorist organisations – said Zurovac.

Ljiljana Zurovac (Photo: Media.ba)

The President of the Association "BH Journalists", Borka Rudić, also warned Patria that the media which published personal data of individuals and linked them to terrorists violated the right to personal data protection.

- I believe that in this case, the Agency for Personal Data Protection must issue a statement – warned Rudić.

The list of people from BiH linked to terrorism appeared in the media after two soldiers of the Armed Forces of BiH were killed, which many media outlets in BiH and the region also characterised as a terrorist act, even before police and prosecution reports were published.

The Agency for Identification Documents, Registers and Data Exchange of BiH (IDDEEA) rejects claims that anyone broke into their database, writes Patria.