You know, today is a good day for breaches of the DPA.
They will remain anonymous for now!
I received a mailshot this morning at home to a style of address I have
purposely not used since 1993. I complained to the signatory on the letter
by phone, and for two reasons.
1) My data was out of date (and thus inaccurate an d a load of others of
the 8 principles)
2) I loathe it when people throw good money down the toilet chasing
obsolete data
The signatory was quite surprised that I was "criticising the way they did
their marketing" (well, er, a data record over 10 years old? Excuse me?)
And worse had no knowledge of the information commissioner's site, the act
in general, and their responsibilities as data controller. "We take advice
from our data agency" (data processor!) was the reply. This is no small
company. It is a national airline, and while not the largest, not the
smallest!
Their current objective is to "take old enquiries and turn them into
business"
Since data degrades at 20% per year, what is the probability of their
getting through to someone whose data record is still live? Come to that
how many will actually be DEAD? And, assuming no better than a 2% response
rate to a mailshot (which looks as though it cost about £1.20 per item sent)
what is the quantity of business they must get from each 1,000 data records
to make their exercise cost effective? And what is the risk of the spouse,
partner or children of a deceased person making a complaint to the IC?
On the "Barking Mad" index, this one scores full marks!
And, regrettably, it also shows that the IC's job is not being done well.
How can I say this? Because, were the job being done well, "Air Barking
Mad" would not even have considered the mailing!
Tim Trent - Consultant
Direct: +44(0)1344 392644 Mobile:+44(0)7710 126618
email: [log in to unmask]
Marketing Improvement Limited, Abbey House, Grenville Place, Bracknell,
United Kingdom, RG12 1BP <http://www.marketingimprovement.com/>
http://www.marketingimprovement.com
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