June 24 2008

Danger customer data

UK internet businesses are sharing customer details with third parties without regard to security

UK businesses are giving out highly personal and confidential details about their customers to third parties in a bid to boost sales

Despite being amongst the three quarters of UK firms who claim to limit the types of personal information they share with third-parties for marketing purposes, a study of 900 UK data protection and marketing professionals by email business StrongMail shows that some marketing professionals are prepared to give out the type of personal data that would horrify many civil liberty and data privacy groups.

• Seven percent would disclose customers' sexual orientation;
• One in ten (10%) will disclose customers' religious beliefs;
• One in seven (14%) will share details on political affiliation or activism (14%);
• One in twenty (5%) will give details of ethnic background;
• A further 19 percent, one in five, would give out customer credit card details.

The survey also found that the loss or theft of private and confidential data is endemic amongst UK firms with almost two-thirds (61 percent) of marketing professionals experiencing a data breach involving the loss or theft of consumer information over the past 24 months. In 90 percent of these cases the loss or theft went unreported since they felt that they were either not required to, or were unsure whether they had to, report the incident to the affected customer.

Paul Bates, email marketing expert and managing director of StrongMail UK, said: "Businesses have a moral, ethical obligation to keep private, personal customer data safe and secure. They should not be handing it out to third parties in the hope of making a fast buck. If they choose to do this, and then lose customer data, then they should at least be obliged to admit it."

The full research report 2008 UK Study on Email Marketing Practices & Privacy is available for download via the following link: http://www.strongmail.com/resources/whitepapers/wp-uk-marketing-practices.php

by Marcus Austin (Web Editor)