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There are new EU-wide data regulations, known as the GDPR, that were introduced in 2018. These regulations allow people to make a data request, called a Subject
by nkurz 7y ago
There are new EU-wide data regulations, known as the GDPR, that were introduced in 2018. These regulations allow people to make a data request, called a Subject Access Request, to any institution that holds any data on them. The definition of data is pretty broad, and I was able to ask my PhD college, and several other institutions, to see all emails in which my name appeared in either the subject line or the body of the email.
While it may now be legal in the EU to request a copy of all emails that mention you by name, socially it would be a terrible betrayal of trust. Ironically, this seems like clear confirmatory evidence of the sort of red-flag behavior that would cause an advisor to send private emails strongly discouraging others from hiring you even if you were qualified on-paper for the position.
- sct202 7y agoThat doesn't seem fair since the emails were sent long before the writer made the requests. If she had never asked for the emails, the same things would be said about her.
- nkurz 7y agoSure, I don't mean that it was evidence at the time, rather that suspicions held by the advisor seem to have been proved true. I presume that advisor felt justified in warning others that the author might be a problematic hire, and a scandal like this is evidence that the suspicion was correct. I think the right question to ask is whether an advisor is obligated to give positive recommendations for an advisee if they come to regret having taken them on. My sense is that the advisor was correct to notice that socially something was "off" about the author, and correct that others might regret hiring her, just as he(?) had come to regret choosing her as a student. I don't know though whether it's legal under current EU law to act on these observations and experiences.