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Interior Ministry Unable to Explain How Russian Website Ended Up Handling Data on Children in State Care

The Ministry of the Interior said it did not have any information on how or why a Russian website was used to measure the intellectual capabilities of Hungarian children in state care, reports 444.

The Democratic Union of Teachers (PDSZ) made a data request in the public interest from the Ministry of the Interior, which is responsible for education, after it was reported in August that children in state custody were being administered IQ tests on a Russian site called “Testometrika.”

Testometrika’s own legal notices state that visitors unconditionally consent to having their personal data handled by the site. After it receives such information, Testometrika can gather, sort, store, update, and use the data in any way permitted by Russian law.

According to Telex, the website does not appear in psychology-related academic literature, and it remains unclear what the point of taking the test at all was, as well as the government’s intentions with it. Also not clear is whether there were any qualified specialists involved in the test-taking process.

The National Authority for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (NAIH) later ruled that there was a direct possibility of legal infringement, as the personal data of the participating children or their guardians could be transferred to a third-party data controller. NAIH called on the National Child Protection Services (OGYSZ) to terminate the data management request made for this and delete the personal data that had been generated.

After PDSZ asked the ministry in its data request about what sort of background decisions were involved regarding the use of the Testometrika platform as an IQ test, the Ministry of the Interior replied that it “does not have the requested data.” [444, Telex]

Posted in Domestic

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3 Comments

  1. Misi bacsi

    The reports in “444” and “Telex” raise many ethical questions, as no doubt Steven, and most readers may agree. The notion of informed consent (on the Russian site) for children in “state care” is especially troublesome, given the history of abuse of informed consent in state (and non state) institutions in Hungary, let alone outside of Hungary. Moreover, the reported absence of any details of the Russian based “testing service” in any academic literature, as well as the apparent failure of said service to list names, credentials and affiliations of “staff” is very troublesome. We don’t have details- if any- on the types of instruments used to measure IQ in these so called “IQ tests.” It is very doubtful that the measurement of children’s intellectual abilities meets even the minimal standards of the modern world. No doubt, the regime got this moronic idea, secondary to some sort of imagined “bargain” after stealing the EU funds meant for education etc. International professional psychology/psychiatric organizations should be invited to examine the above issues.

    • Steven

      It’s frustrating that these things are not transparent, which means the information can “disappear” without there being any accountability for what happened.

  2. 2bits4free

    I wonder if the KGB/FSB, at Number 1 Fo utca in district I, had anything to do with acquiring the list of names of the children in this so-called “study”.
    Invited by Orban, Russia`s Trojan Horse, which camouflages the presence of Putin`s spies, houses a small army of hackers and spies working away within an EU member state.

    Falsified and illegal access to information about children should raise the alarm in Brussels, so I cannot understand why the EU has done nothing about the presence of the Spy Bank here in Budapest, while we are told on a daily basis about the number of sanctions against Russian banks and Oligarchs. When will Ursula von der Layen focus on Hungary’s complicity with Putin`s terrorist state.

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