I now have received the following reply to my S10 notice:
BEGINS
Thank you for your email of 3rd February, in which- under s.10 of the Data
Protection Act 1998- you asked us to stop processing your personal data in
the context of the "last bill paid" BT SMS service. I have been asked to
reply.
As you may be aware, BT introduced this facility, on a trial basis only,
some weeks ago. We took the view initially that it was not necessary for
customers to have to identify themselves by giving their account numbers. We
came to this view in good faith on the basis that it is not possible to
determine from the date disclosed whether a bill was paid on time or what
the size of the last bill was. We also considered that the information in
question was perhaps unlikely to be capable of "having an adverse impact on
the individual" (to quote the Information Commissioner guidance on the
"Durant case") and might therefore not constitute personal data.
However, we now appreciate that not all customers share this view- and
accept that disclosure of the information (i.e. without customer consent) is
capable of having an adverse impact. Accordingly, we amended the
functionality at the beginning of last week, and, customers are now required
to submit their account numbers before "date of last bill paid" information
is disclosed to them. In introducing the original functionality, we were
responding to the growing demand for customers to be able to access account
information quickly (and often without having information about their
account to hand). Whilst it is sometimes difficult to find the right balance
between accessibility and security, I can assure you that the security of
our customers' data is of great importance to us- and that is why we moved
quickly to amend this service as soon as we were aware that some customers
had concerns.
In closing, the concern you expressed in your s.10 notice was that your
personal data was being processed without your consent. We consider that the
introduction of the requirement for account number effectively meets this
concern- and that we have now complied with your notice. You may also wish
to note that the Office of the Information Commissioner has also confirmed
that it believes "the requirement for the account number as well as the
telephone number provides an appropriate security measure".
Thank you for drawing our attention to this matter.
ENDS
It comes from the very nice manager in Customer Service who has doubtless
been instructed to reply in this manner.
I have rejected this as follows:
BEGINS
I do not accept that the additional small safeguard is sufficient to
meet my requirements for BT to cease processing my personal data in
this manner.
You have therefore not made an adequate reply. My Section 10 notice
stands. I require you to stop processing my phone number in this
manner. I absolutely prohibit you from transmitting details about my
telephone account payment details by SMS message to me unless I give
specific authorisation.
ENDS
Additionally I have passed the reply to the UKIC as evidence. But I do not
expect to prevail here. What it looks like is that BT are choosing to win
the battle, but have lost sight of their customers and our needs.
-----Original Message-----
From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tim Trent
Sent: 10 February 2006 18:01
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [data-protection] BT SMS Self Service
Well, 5pm came. And went. 5:45 I had a call "Hello Mr Trent. I only just
got this email".
I explained that I was in process of printing off the complaint forms.
It will be escalated to a manager on Monday.
I have also spoken to a man in Bombay who insisted that I wanted to talk
about a different service.
Tim Trent - Consultant
Direct: +44(0)1344 392644 Mobile:+44(0)7710 126618
email: [log in to unmask]
<blocked::mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Marketing Improvement Limited, Abbey House, Grenville Place, Bracknell,
United Kingdom, RG12 1BP <blocked::http://www.marketingimprovement.com/>
http://www.marketingimprovement.com
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