An innocent man accidentally labelled a paedophile by the Sensible Sentencing Trust (SST) has spoken out about the mistake's effect on his life.
A photo of the man was uploaded to the SST's 'Offender Database' next to an entry about a convicted paedophile with the same name, but no effort was made to verify if the image was of the right person.
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It wasn't, and the man didn't find out until two years later when a customer called his business to tell him to stay away. In that time it had been viewed more than 500 times and been posted to community and school pages.
The man, who has not been named, said he was shocked by the mistake and he contacted the SST immediately after making the discovery.
"It's definitely not me - I was pretty bloody shocked," he told NZME. "All I can say is, if you've ever been gutted - that's what it feels like... It blows you away."
He went to the Privacy Commissioner after receiving advice from the police. Commissioner John Edwards called the trust "negligent and cavalier" after being alerted to the issue.
"The magnitude of this error calls the SST's capabilities into question and raises concerns that the database may have contained other significant errors," Mr Edwards said.
The man said the situation had been incredibly stressful for his family and he was now constantly worried he will be recognised.
"You're walking around the supermarket looking away from people and if somebody gives you a funny glance you think 'have they seen that picture?'" he told NZME. "It's been quite hard."
Due to the significance of the case, and the fact that it was not settled, the Privacy Commissioner will now refer it to the Director of Human Rights Proceedings.
The SST has now taken the database down while it reviews its records. It will also contact Facebook and Google to see if there were any defamatory posts about the man, provide privacy training to operators and officers, and produce processes for volunteers adding to the database in the future.
Newshub.
