devolution vs. droe ~ Latest News ~ Data Protection people a waste of time...

[devolution]

I spent considerable time recently trying to get it through the thick skulls of the Data Protection Agency of the harmful activities of DROE/DROA.

Suffice to say, they don't really understand, and it's doubtful I can ever get them to understand.
Here is the response I received:

Thank you for your e-mail of 12 December 2002 and the further information you have sent.

I understand that http://resellers.tucows.com/opensrs/ registers applicants for domain names such as yourself with the WHOIS database (which is required to keep the public register for certain second level domain name owners). They do this through other companies (resellers).

Having read the privacy policy on the WHOIS database, this explains that they may share the information stored on their database as well as other information which is not sensitive with carefully selected business partners, including those who offer services that complement those provided by them or which may be of interest to you. If you wish to opt out, you can send an e-mail at [email protected].

It seems likely that Domain Registry of Europe/America provides complementary services to those offered by WHOIS as well as http://resellers.tucows.com/opensrs/ and it is possible that they might fall into this category. It is not therefore unreasonable to assume that Domain Registry of Europe could have obtained your data from the WHOIS quite legitimately. In addition, the condition on accessing the database does not state anything in connection with advertising via post, it only refers to e-mail, facsimile and telephone.

Whilst I understand any frustration the direct marketing mailings might cause, even to the extent that the information in question will constitute personal data, it is not clear that the use of such publicly available information for the purposes of sending a marketing communication will be inherently unfair.

However, under Section 11 of the Data Protection Act 1998, you are entitled to ask a data controller, by notice in writing, to cease processing your personal data for the purpose of direct marketing. You should direct your correspondence to the Data Protection Officer of the company in question. Should you receive a lot of further mailings from them after you have asked them to cease (giving the company reasonable time to effect the amendment – usually one month) then you may wish to submit a Request for Assessment to this Office. Further information about this process and a request for assessment form can be found on our website at www.dataprotection.gov.uk under ‘Guidance and Other Publications’ and then ‘Assessments’. You will need to provide evidence you have to support your complaint (e.g. a sample of the mailings you have received after your request, copies of your requests under Section 11 and proof of their delivery) and you will need to fill in our request for assessment form.



Yours sincerely,





Ileana Thomson

Compliance Officer