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ICO

How You Can Protect Yourself from Receiving Nuisance Calls

/ Laws and Regulations, News and Updates

Nuisance calls can cause a great deal of disruption in people’s lives, particularly for those who are receiving unsolicited phone calls on a daily basis. Having your mobile unexpectedly vibrate during a meeting is bad enough, but it is the least of some people’s worries. Elderly people are often woken and panicked by unexpected calls from unfamiliar numbers. People waiting for important medical news about families can be caused severe distress. But even if you consider nuisance calls a slight annoyance you have to deal with every now and then, there are steps which you can take to reduce your likelihood of receiving them.
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Another £80,000 Fine Issued to Direct Assist for Nuisance Calls

/ Laws and Regulations, News and Updates, TPS Compliant

More tough enforcement by the ICO has emerged following a bout of unsolicited marketing calls made by Direct Assist Ltd; a personal injury claims company. The organisation had made a high volume of calls offering access to solicitors for consumers who hadn’t given their permission to be contacted. The ICO has revealed that almost all of the individuals who made complaints had previously registered their telephone numbers with the TPS. Over 800 individual complaints were made over a period of 19 months, giving the ICO more than enough evidence to issue a monetary penalty.
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Nuisance Calls – Action Required From All Angles

/ For Call Centres, Laws and Regulations, TPS Compliant

Nuisance calls have become a real talking point in the media recently. The issue has now earned ‘plague level’ status, with around 100,000 individual complaints made to the ICO last year. But cleaning up the industry will require the right actions from all parties, whether they be call centres, recipients of the calls, network operators, or the regulator. To clear things up we’ve suggested what we think is required from each angle in order to put an end to nuisance calls for good, and change the communications industry for the better...
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Regulatory Update – ICO Privacy Seals

/ Laws and Regulations, News and Updates, Uncategorised

The ICO has announced it will go ahead with the implementation of its privacy seal schemes. This will mean companies can receive a "stamp of approval" regarding data protection regulations, which will prove that they are serious about their customers' personal data. Organisations that show good practice will be awarded the privacy seal by ICO approved third party schemes, which will be designed to operate in different sectors/industries. The ICO has stated that some of these schemes could be operational as early as 2016.
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New EU-Wide Regulations on Data Protection – 5 Key Changes to Be Aware Of

/ Uncategorised

The European regulations on data protection haven’t changed much since 1995, but the way personal data flows between and within organisations definitely has. Technological developments have meant that personal data is now stored anywhere and everywhere, and it's moving around too. Seem far-fetched? Think about the amount of times you enter data about yourself into forms on websites and apps - that data is normally stored somewhere new, and is all too easily exchanged between different organisations. Think about how many times smartphone apps ask you to grant access to use your location - it's easy to forget how often we share personal data. The way this information flows within and between organisations has changed, and trends indicate that each generation becomes more comfortable than the last about sharing it.
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What Is the ICO’s Role in UK Call Centre Regulation?

/ For Call Centres, TPS Compliant

The Information Commissioner's Office is the UK's independent authority, which has been set up to uphold information rights in the public interest, in order to promote openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals. With particular regards to the ICO's role in call centre regulation, the ICO are responsible for enforcing regulation in respect of marketing calls through the telephone preference service.
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