Data protection complaints soar
12-12-2007
by Ciara O'Brien

Complaints to the Data Protection Commissioner have soared to 900 so far this year, as more people become aware of the potential for abuse of their data.

Assistant commissioner Tony Delaney told ENN he expects the final figure for 2007 to have risen above 1,000 by the time the annual report for the year is finalised. Last year's total number of complaints was 658, compared to just 300 in 2005.

"The volume of complaints increased considerably this year," according to Delaney, who explained that a large number of the complaints relate to text messages and unsolicited communications from companies.

However, the number of complaints does not mean that there have been 900 breaches of the legislation. "Not all complaints are upheld. Sometimes there is no basis for the complaint or not really a breach," the assistant commissioner said.

"One element is that there is certainly greater awareness out there. One of the issues that has contributed to the increase in the number of complaints in relation to the texting sector is that earlier this year there was a lot of publicity around a Prime Time programme on the subject," said Delaney.

"Other media picked up on it at the time, and there was an immediate surge in complaints. People decided to complain, and in greater numbers than would normally happen."

The Prime Time report highlighted the problems that consumers were experiencing with unsolicited messages, a situation that some operators blame on confusion regarding terms and conditions of subscription services.

According to premium phone service regulator RegTel's annual report for 2006/2007, the RegTel Call centre got about 30,000 calls from the public in its first year of operation, about 80 percent of which were looking for help with subscription services. Some 2,111 complaints were received, 94 percent of which dealt with subscription services.

The Data Protection Commissioner, meanwhile, is hoping to increase the standard of data protection compliance in Ireland with a new training programme for data protection practitioners. The three-day course will be provided by ICS Skills and has been developed in consultation with the Data Protection Commissioner's Office.

The training is aimed at helping those who are involved in processing, storing and managing personal information, such as direct marketing, healthcare, legal workers, and human resource staff, to become more aware of how to effectively protect consumer data.