Italian riders association questions privacy

The Italian professional cyclists association was presented with the findings of a study which questions the privacy of personal information provided to anti-doping agencies. The report submitted to the ACCPI by the Authority Guarantor for the Protection of Personal Data expressed concerns about the "excesses" of CONI and WADA protocols which seem to affect the privacy of cyclists.

The report focuses on the ADAMS system, the online database designed by WADA that serves as the center for collection and exchange of data related to riders whereabouts. It is used to locate riders for out-of-competition testing. The Guarantor expressed concerns about the lack of accurate and adequate guarantees on ownership of the database, data protection protocols, the types of information collected and its communication to third parties.

Specifically, surprise checks conducted in the home or hotel rooms of athletes could involve the collection of information concerning their private lives or references to third parties (such as family members), information irrelevant to the purpose of testing for doping, resulting in unwarranted invasion of privacy of those concerned.