I think there are arguments on both sides. I'm entirely unsurprised and 
more than a little disappointed with the ICO. But I've had similar 
experiences with the Chihuahua (or chocolate teapot as I have referred 
to them in the past.

Its no different with the police and low-level anti-social behaviour . 
they direct their resources to the murders and politically sensitive 
offences and fail to investigate low level frauds, finding any excuse.

You only have to look at the statements made when the media asked them 
(after my cour case against an unsolicited emailer) and they were caught 
(IMO) a little on the back foot when asked why they'd never gone after 
spammers.

But I am totally surprised about their unconcern that an organisation 
has committed a strict liability offence by failing to notify as 
required by law. I suspect that technically (in practice noone would do 
it) the ICO is open to JR since they are refusing to exercise their core 
regulatory functions (there's a phrase!) irrationally!


Nigel

Tim Trent wrote:
> I promised you all an update.
> 
> You may remember that I complained to the UKIC on the grounds that the 
> NES Crematorium had obtained my data unfairly and had not processed it 
> in accordance with my rights.  Their defence has always been "You signed 
> one of our forms and failed to opt out, so ya boo, sucks to you!"  My 
> complaint is based upon the reasonable expectation at the time of 
> booking the funeral that all the paperwork was paperwork for the 
> undertaker, that there as NO expectation of marketing except from the 
> undertaker, and that the crematorium, apart from being exceptionally 
> tasteless, was in breach of the DPA 1998.
> 
> Interestingly the crematorium had also not notified under the DPA, and 
> it appears to me not to be an exempt organisation.
> 
> The UKIC has emailed me to say "there is no case to answer".
> 
> They say:
> BEGINS
> 
> In this instance we have made an assessment that it is unlikely that any 
> breach of the DPA has occurred in processing your personal data in this 
> way. In terms of mail marketing, individuals should be made aware that 
> their information will be used for this purpose and there should also be 
> an opportunity to either opt-out or object.
> 
> The North East Surrey Crematorium satisfied both these criteria, by 
> having an opt-out box available and by agreeing to your request to stop 
> sending marketing materials and processing your data. Further, after 
> making your complaint, the North East Surrey Crematorium considered your 
> objections carefully and made a number of concessions including making 
> the opt-out box more prominent on their paperwork and delaying the 
> period before communication to four weeks.
> It is understandable that, at a time of such great stress, you weren’t 
> aware that the relevant paperwork was from the crematorium rather than 
> from the funeral director but I feel, on balance, that this was a 
> responsibility of the funeral director rather than a failing of the 
> crematorium or its paperwork.
> 
> On this basis, there is no strong indication that the North East Surrey 
> Crematorium has failed to comply with the DPA* *in this instance. Also, 
> taking your concerns into consideration, they have made some welcome 
> steps in improving their service.
> 
> ENDS
> 
> We are back to "They have made changes, so there is no problem, is 
> there?  Please go away and stop wasting our time by asking us to do our 
> job."
> 
> It seems they do not even care that the organisation had not notified 
> and was thus committing a strict liability offence by processing 
> personal data at all.  I am not high profile like fingerprints at T5, so 
> my compliant can be swept away.
> 
> Or am I overreacting?  You be the judge.  Me, I want an Information 
> Rottweiler.  We have an Information Chihuahua.

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