Nuisance call complaints reach record high, says ICO

• 2 July 2015
 
• From the sectionTechnology

The UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) received a record number of complaints about nuisance calls in the past year.

The watchdog said 180,188 complaints about unwanted promotional calls and text messages had been made, up 11% from last year.

In its annual report, it said it had issued five fines relating to unsolicited calls and texts.

Consumer group Which? said the figures were the "tip of the iceberg".

The organisation said its research showed only 2% of people who received unwanted calls reported them.

"Regulators, government and industry must work harder to cut off unwanted calls and texts that annoy millions of us every day," said Richard Lloyd, executive director at Which?

The body is running a campaign to hold senior executives accountable for nuisance calls made by their companies.

It said the ICO should use its powers "to full effect", to punish companies that broke cold-calling rules.

The ICO told the BBC the rise in complaints could be attributed to its online reporting tool, which had been active for only two years.

'Unlawfully accessed'

Overall, the ICO issued more than £1m in fines in the last year.

In March, it fined the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) £180,000 after a witness in an investigation was mistakenly sent evidence relating to 64 other people involved in the case.

Other successful prosecutions included:

• a pharmacist who unlawfully accessed the medical records of family members and colleagues
• an employee of Transport for London who unlawfully accessed the Oyster travel card records of family members and neighbours
• a company director who accessed one of EE's customer databases to promote his own telecoms services

The total number of complaints the ICO handled fell slightly compared with last year.

The organisation also collected slightly less in fines, although this meant there were fewer appeals against its rulings.

"The number of fines issued has almost halved, but the final amount paid to the ICO, after appeals, has only dropped by 13%," said Chris McIntosh, chief executive of data security firm ViaSat UK.

"I think the ICO is being smarter about the battles it picks. For an organisation that needs to consider its budget, it's a wise course of action."

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-33362726

Record number of data complaints made to ICO

• 15 July 2014
 
• From the sectionTechnology

Nuisance calls were once again a major driver of complaints, the ICO said

The UK's information commissioner has called for better funding for the country's data regulator amid a record number of cases.

Ahead of the release of the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) annual report, Christopher Graham said the body needed "stronger powers".

In the past year, the ICO issued £1.97m in penalties to companies found to breach data protection rules.

The report highlighted a high number of incidents involving local government.

"In particular, the disclosure of personal data in error," the report read.

In one example, a probation officer pleaded guilty to revealing the new address of a domestic violence victim to the alleged perpetrator. The officer was fined £150, and had to pay £280 in costs.

The ICO said it resolved 15,492 data protection complaints in the last financial year - a 10% rise on the previous 12 months. The number of calls to its advice helpline rose by more than 15%.

The ICO secured 12 criminal convictions and two cautions for the unlawful obtaining or disclosing of personal data.

Media captionInformation commissioner Christopher Graham: "More powers needed"

In another incident, the ICO intervened when Staffordshire Police ran a Twitter campaign naming people charged with drink driving.

"Whilst releasing some details of people charged with criminal offences is acceptable," the ICO ruled, "using a hashtag '#drinkdrivers' is potentially misleading as it implies guilt."

One data security expert said that the ICO had a strong argument for deserving more funds.

"While penalties totalling £1,97m were issued, the ICO only collected £872,000, thanks to a combination of early payment reductions, appeals and impairments," said Chris McIntosh, chief executive of ViaSat UK.

"This is a situation that clearly favours those organisations with the resources to either reduce penalties through early payment or mount a challenge against a judgement.

"Yet with increased funding and powers, the ICO could not only make sure that penalties, financial or otherwise, matched the severity of an offence. It could make its investigations even more thorough: reducing the chances of appeals and making sure that its eventual judgement was both fair and final."

'Ever-growing'

At the launch of the report on Tuesday, Mr Graham said: "Facebook, [NHS] care data, Google: it is clear that organisations' use of data is getting ever more complicated. People need to know someone is watching over their information.

"Independence means someone who's got the resources to take on this ever-growing number of cases. The last 12 months have been a record year - more complaints resolved than ever, more enforcement action taken and more advice given through our helpline.

"And it also means having the powers to act on the more serious complaints. A strong regulator is needed if a data breach affects millions of people.

The ICO reopened its investigation after a US probe uncovered more detail about the data captured

"To do our job properly, to represent people properly, we need stronger powers, more sustainable funding and a clearer guarantee of independence."

The ICO in the past has been criticised for both being too lenient, and not thorough enough, when investigating companies.

The ICO was described as "sadly lacking" by privacy campaigners when it dropped a 2010 investigation into Google's scooping up of personal information from wi-fi networks when taking pictures for its Street View product.

The ICO dropped its investigation after receiving reassurances from Google - only to re-open it in 2012 after US regulators found wrongdoing on Google's part.

In that year's annual report, it admitted it had not issued a single fine to any firm. However, new powers granted in January 2012 made it easier for the ICO to fine large amounts.

In this year's report, the highest number of complaints relate to nuisance calls. Over the 12 months, 161,720 complaints were made - 46% of which related to automated calls.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28301440