A data protection issue we can’t afford to ignore
Howard Lake | 15 February 2013 | Blogs
At the risk of scaremongering, I am – to say the least – extremely concerned about the potential impact that the proposed EU legislation changes on data protection will have for the third sector. Perhaps we should all be more than just a little bit concerned?
Though the UK direct marketing industry is mobilising, if our response to the cookie law is anything to go by (slow to say the least – more from the ICO here) I’m not reassured that we are going to get the result our industry, and our sector, needs.
When I spoke to one of my DM agency contacts about the impact of the legislation it was suggested: “The UK would walk away from Europe rather than risk our industry”. Well, that’s a pretty bold attitude, assuming that the government would put our needs before all the many other things that membership of the EU entails.
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But hang on, is it? What is the direct marketing industry worth to the UK? Well the Direct Marketing Association reckons that it’s over £14.2 billion – and that is worth sitting up and taking notice of. But all we are talking about is a little change to data protection, personal privacy, which is good for consumers, isn’t it?
What do the proposed changes mean?
Well, let’s take a look in a bit more detail, what does the proposed change mean and why is it important to the third sector? Here are some highlights:
General rule for direct marketing – “explicit consent by clear statement or affirmative action”.
In other words, opt-in only. Given that only about 20% of people ever tick ‘yes please’, that could mean cold data depleting by 80%.
The right to be forgotten – “The data subject shall have the right to obtain from the controller the erasure of personal data relating to them and the abstention from further dissemination of such data."
Sounds reasonable, but how can you remember to forget someone if you can’t keep hold of their preferences and suppress them from the next cold activity? And there are also legal implications – some data we have to keep by law.
Not to mention (and here I quote directly from the DMA):
“Prohibition of profiling – Your business would no longer be allowed to target marketing at specific consumer profiles… It would also be prohibited to gather individuals' data without their explicit consent.”
And profiling is not defined clearly in the legislation update – it could mean anything from digital analytics to lifestyle profiling. Bang goes our ability to target or understand behaviour.
Implementing the new legislation will have cost implications too from employing a DP specialist (for organisations of 250+ employees) to consolidating legacy databases to make sure you can find every single bit of data you store on an individual.
What should we do?
What can we do about it? We have a limited window of opportunity to influence the wording of this law. We need to fully understand the impact that the proposed changes will have not just for charities, but the causes we support and in this respect we have a distinct advantage over our commercial colleagues. We have a huge voice as a sector with considerable influence. Let’s use it.
Carolyn Causton
Please note this post reflects the view of the individual and not necessarily the views of the employer or publisher.
Resources
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Summary of the changes and implications (DMA website)
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Data Protection Toolkit (DMA website)
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Data Protection Reform from the Information Commissioner’s Office (DMA website)
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What the changes mean to you (Computer Weekly)
- Lobby your MEP (DMA website)
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.