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Donovans v. Royal Dutch Shell

By John Donovan

Printed below is our most recent correspondence with Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

It is self-explanatory.

From: John Donovan <[email protected]>
Date: 2 February 2011 14:47:14 GMT
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Section 7 (1) of the Data Protection Act

To:

Mr. Gavin White
Company Secretarial Department
Shell International Limited

Dear Mr. White

Section 7 (1) of the Data Protection Act

As you may be aware, my father Alfred Donovan and I reached an agreement with Royal Dutch Shell Plc Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, Mr Richard Wiseman, that in future our Subject Access Request applications to Shell would be made on a joint basis i.e. in the names of Alfred and John Donovan.

Bearing in mind that a year has passed since our last application, we formally request that you please send us the information to which we are entitled under section 7 (1) of the Data Protection Act 1998 in relation to our dealings with Shell. This is to include all documents, drafts, reports, emails, communications, correspondence, transcripts and any other information held by Shell, which contain either or both of our names, or abbreviations thereof, or codes which signify our names.

In this connection, we have supplied some background information, which will hopefully assist in locating relevant information. To avoid constantly repeating the formal request and the range of information set out in the above paragraph, please take it that the specified range of information automatically always applies, including whenever we use the term: “We request all relevant information”.

At the time of our last application, just over a year ago, on 13 January 2010 to be precise, we were unaware that Shell had resolved all litigation with Dr John Huong, (aka Dr John Huong Yiu Tuong) the former employee of Shell in Malaysia. We now seek all relevant information in the control or possession of Shell stretching back to and including 2004. We have previously been advised by Shell that you are not obliged to provide SAR information relating to litigation in progress. That situation no longer applies in relation to Dr John Huong. We are aware that RDS Plc head office lawyers were involved in the litigation, which stemmed in the first place from information we published on our website.  A UK registered company was one of the eight companies within the Royal Dutch Shell group that sued Dr Huong for defamation, obtained multiple injunctions against him and sought his imprisonment for alleged contempt of court in respect of further information posted on our website. Since we played the key role, it also seems likely that reference was made to one or both of us and/or our website in the settlement documents.

For many years Mr Richard Wiseman has been the key person at Shell dealing with all matters relating to us. Particular attention should therefore be applied to his files including contact with the news media, matters relating to WikiLeaks, Wikipedia, and matters relating to Shell Oil USA, including the industrial espionage investigation of Shell by U.S. authorities, as authorised by U.S. Defence Department attorneys to be confirmed to us by a high level U.S. Intelligence source. We would also request all relevant information concerning the related former Shell employee whose name will already be known to Shell.

Our first SAR application revealed that a crisis reaction team had been set up to counter our website activities. The content of one email was decidedly hostile towards us. Please supply any further correspondence or documents relating to the same or any subsequent team, third party, or person, involved in any such activities such as industrial espionage and/or hacking on behalf of Shell, perhaps involving Shell Corporate Affairs Security. In this connection we also request all relevant information naming or referring to one of both of us in the possession or control of Shell Global Security. Please also address this request to Mr Ian Forbes McCredie OBE, the former British Secret Service officer who is head of Shell Global Security and Richard T. Garcia, the former senior FBI official of 25 years standing, who is Global Security Advisor for Shell International. We request all relevant information.

Please also supply any relevant Shell correspondence with Saudi Aramco, and/or the Saudi Arabia government/regime, and/or Motiva Enterprises, in which we are referred to or are named. We request all relevant information.

Other matters and events in the last years which may have generated relevant information include the Shell Global Address Book database leaked to us; the Corrib Gas Project controversy, including alleged death threats made to our Shell insider contacts; our supply of Shell insider documents to U.S.federal investigators in relation to the Gale Norton controversy (they approached us); the controversy surrounding Shell’s plans to drill in the Arctic Ocean; the controversy surroundings Shell’s dealings with Nigeria, Libya and Iran; the controversy surrounding Shell’s historical dealings with Hitler and the Nazis.

Basically, we seek all relevant information held by Shell in all departments including PR/media, which has not previously been supplied.

Can you please ensure that we can identity where Shell has redacted information, as this is impossible to do on many documents you have previously supplied. There should always be heavy black lines denoting redaction, not just white spaces. Without such indication, it is sometimes impossible to identify for certain when redaction has taken place, for example at the end of a line of print (where the print margins are not justified) or at the end of a sentence, if there are just blank spaces indistinguishable from the non printed background of the document.

If you need further information from us, or a fee, please let us know as soon as possible.

If you no longer handle these requests for your organisation, please pass this email to your Data Protection Officer or other appropriate officer.

Best Regards

Alfred Donovan and John Donovan

RESPONSE FROM ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC 17 FEBRUARY 2011 (PDF)

MAIN TEXT

17 February 2011

Mr John Donovan’s email to myself dated 2 February 2011 requesting information pursuant to section 7 (1) of the Data Protection Act 1998 will be dealt with on behalf of the appropriate companies in the Royal Dutch/Shell Group by Company Secretarial, Shell International Limited.

Please find enclosed two copies of a Subject Access Request form together with an Information Leaflet. The Subject Access Request form is for any Personal Data that any Shell Group Company operating in the UK may be processing apart from images from CCTV equipment. If you want information about or a copy of images from CCTV equipment please ask for a separate Subject Access Request form.

Each of you will need to complete a Subject Access Request form. The Subject Access Request form is divided into two sections:

Part A- asks you to give information about yourself that will help us confirm your identity. You will be asked to provide evidence of your identity by producing documentation with your application. When dealing with a Subject Access Request, the Data Controller has a duty to ensure that information he holds is secure and must be satisfied that you are who you say you are before disclosing the information.

Part B – asks you to declare that the information you have supplied is correct and to confirm that either you are the Data Subject or to confirm your relationship with the Data Subject.  A person who impersonates or attempts to impersonate another may be guilty of an offence.

If you wish to obtain information about Personal Data and a copy of any Personal Data from a Shell Group company operating in the U.K please each complete a Subject Access Request form and return it enclosing the following documentation:

  • A copy of an appropriate identification document for each of you;
  • Any other authorities requested;
  • The fee (or donation if appropriate) of £10 (only one fee of £10 is necessary);

Once we have received the completed forms, together with the appropriate documentation and fee where requested, we will consider the request. Unless certain exemptions apply or we require more information from you to identify the information you are requesting, we will supply you with information and a copy of the Personal Data requested within 40 days of receipt of the completed forms.

Please note that the form enclosed with this letter does not cover images captured on CCTV equipment. If you require information about, or a copy of these images please ask for a separate Subject Access Request form.

Yours faithfully

Gavin White

Shell International Limited

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

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