When companies and organisations have information about you
It’s a fact of modern living that information about you is likely to be held by a large number of companies, government bodies and organisations.
Very often this information just helps the wheels of everyday life turn efficiently. But sometimes you may not be happy with the way that information about you is being used. Sometimes, too, the information held about you may be wrong. What can you do?
The use of information like this is subject to a law, the Data Protection Act, which is overseen by the government-appointed Information Commissioner and his staff. The Act gives you a number of rights.
- “Let me see what you’ve got about me”
You can contact a company and organisation, to find out what information they hold about you. This applies both to computer data and to some records held on paper. They are allowed to charge you £10, and they must reply within 40 days.
- “You’ve got that wrong – you need to correct it”
If you think information held about you is wrong, you can write and ask for it to be put right.
- “I don’t want you to do that with my information”
If you believe that the use of your information will cause you or someone else serious damage or serious distress, you can in some instances insist that companies or organisations stop using it, either at all or in particular ways.
- “I don’t want your marketing junk”
You can say that you don’t want your details to be used for direct marketing purposes. (Select 'Junk mail, unwanted phone calls and the internet' from the menu on the right for more information.)
- “I’m out of pocket because of this”
You may have a right to compensation if you have lost out in some way because information about you is wrong or has been used wrongly or inappropriately.
A sad, but true, story
A woman left her partner because he was increasingly violent. She moved to a flat, gave her new address to her bank and told them to keep it secret. But by mistake, the bank allowed the ex-partner to find out the new address. He went round, broke down the door and beat her up so badly that she was in hospital for days.
The bank admitted that it had made a mistake, and offered her £300 in compensation. Because she had been so seriously harmed, the authorities told the bank to increase the compensation to £3,000.
The lessons:
Even though it didn’t quite work in this story, it’s still worth making sure to tell companies that have information about you if you don’t want it given out or used in a particular way; you know your situation better than anyone else.
If a mistake with your information causes you harm, ask for compensation.
How to take action
For further information about how to use your rights under the Data Protection Act, contact the Information Commissioner on 01625 545700 or visit their website (see the link to the right).
You can also look at the ‘People’s rights’ section of the government’s Department for Constitutional Affairs web site.
If you’re concerned about the information held about you by credit reference agencies, see the link in the menu on the right hand side.
