Re: [anti-spam-wg@localhost] UK Data Protection

[Rodney Tillotson <]

(was: Spamhaus Block List (was Re: Children of ORBS))

At 18/06/2003 22:44 +0100, Fr Neil McNicholas wrote:

> Have you had problems with EBuyer?
> ... I have complained to them, about them, and reported them.

Not sure who you've talked to.

The UK Information Commissioner's contact details are at
http://www.dataprotection.gov.uk/contactus.htm
They prefer telephone, but a short mail message asking 'how do I
make a complaint about eBuyer?' will probably get a useful response
in a day or two.
The IC should be interested in your claim that eBuyer have your data
and are failing to correct or remove it when you ask. In a second
message to them you will have to provide some evidence for that claim.
The actual mail is not their concern, and since you are a customer
it will be hard for you to prove that you didn't at some stage agree
to accept eBuyer's advertising. On the other hand, it might be hard
for them to prove that that you did.

Trading Standards can sometimes be persuaded to take an interest in
the poor business practice you describe, though their primary
responsibility is to see that you get the goods or services you pay
for.
Often they decide they can't do anything, but by that time they may
have contacted the offender so that the trouble stops anyway.
The front page at
http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/
has a postcode search to find your local office; it's the office
local to the offender (in Sheffield in this case) who will have to
do something, but Trading Standards will deal with that or advise
you.

You could also write to their ISP. That's Prodigy Networks (also in
Sheffield) for the web site and inbound e-mail, though it's possible
that their promotional mail comes out through a different provider.
You might point out how eBuyer have not complied with best current
practice as in
http://www.linx.net/noncore/bcp/mailinglist-bcp.html

This could quickly become off-topic, but I hope the comments on UK
Data Protection were of fairly general interest.

Rodney Tillotson, JANET-CERT
+44 1235 822 255.