The new data protection act 2018

[sweetgirl]

Any thoughts on the new data protection act which is due to come into force later this month?

[Sue]

Yes, it's a pain for people like us (The Goose Is Out!) with an existing mailing list of people all of whom have already chosen to be on it.

We've got to ask them all to opt in again, even though they already have.

[rendelharris]

In a funny way it's been quite useful for the charity for which I volunteer: every fortnight I send a newsletter to around 600 partner volunteer organisations, asking them to opt back in has given us a clearer picture of who's reading our materials, who might have dropped off the radar, who's changed their email and not notified us etc. But it has been a pain for a lot of smaller one man band type charities, I know.

[uncleglen]

I am personally glad of it because all those unsolicited pieces of email I get will disappear

[Loz]

Sue Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Yes, it's a pain for people like us (The Goose Is

> Out!) with an existing mailing list of people all

> of whom have already chosen to be on it.

>

> We've got to ask them all to opt in again, even

> though they already have.

Not entirely true, Sue. If you use something like Mailchimp and you can show that they have all previously opted in (as they would have accepted the 'please confirm' email), you'd be OK. If you don't have that evidence, you will need to get them to opt in.

We use Mailchimp, but we migrated a list over, so I have to get everyone who was on that list to re-opt-in, but anyone since the upload is OK.

[Sue]

We do use MailChimp but only changed to it relatively recently and migrated over a list of nearly 1500 names :(

[DulwichFox]

There are many organisations where people have Subscribed / Opted-in (Non Free)

but then find it difficult to opt-out or leave.

The Data Protection Act 2018 will help those people.

DulwichFox

[Loz]

It's not called the Data Protection Act - that's the old legislation. It's now the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

[KidKruger]

Sue. I hereby opt back in.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Me too!

[Sue]

Sadly we have to send you a form to do this, KK and PGC xxx

[Sue]

DulwichFox Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> There are many organisations where people have

> Subscribed / Opted-in (Non Free)

> but then find it difficult to opt-out or leave.

>

> The Data Protection Act 2018 will help those

> people.

>

>

> DulwichFox

Each of our newsletters has an "unsubscribe" link at the end.

I have never found it difficult to opt out of unwanted emails.

[Sue]

Sorry, duplicate post.

[Robert Poste's Child]

My understanding is that GDPR is an EU regulation (effective on 25 May) and it's in the process of becoming part of the UK Data Protection Act. Not sure if that means it might change again post-Brexit.

Has anyone come across an organisation called 2Share? After I got personalised junk mail through the door from a catholic charity I knew for sure I'd never subscribed to, I called them to remove my data and ask where they got it. They said 2Share and helpfully gave me their customer service number, which leads to a recorded message where you can leave a request to unsubscribe.

I'm now trying to find out where they in turn got my data from and who else they've supplied it to. It appears that they harvest it from the internet somehow, probably partly via the 'info from our partners' box, although I've always been careful to untick that. In the past some online organisations blatantly ignored your preferences so hopefully the new regulation gives individuals more control.

[shebe]

it's unlikely that Brexit will affect the implementation of the GDPR in the UK.

The principles are that individuals will have more rights than under the existing legislation re. the collection, use, access to and and deletion of their personal data; organisations therefore have greater responsibility for ensuring that personal data is collected, used, processed, stored and deleted properly, and that it's clear to their customers/users/clients how their information is handled. They also need to be able to demonstrate that proper policies and procedures for data handling are in place and followed.

There are lots of scare stories, myths and dubious advice 'out there' - definitive information for both individuals and organisations working in different sectors is available via the ICO website and Twitter account.

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/

@ICOnews

(I'm not connected with the ICO, but have had to deal with this for work. Dull but essential - and generally A Good Thing, IMHO).