data rules

[jim_the_chin]

okay?

sorry, just trying to make this a bit more interesting.

Has anyone got this barclaycard mail where they're going to change your card into an oyster card / credit card thingy? They're saying that unless they hear from me they're going to pass my details onto TFL and ther business partners - a scary prospect indeed.

My O'Level commerce teaching was that silence is not acceptance, and as i haven't sgned anything saying they can pass my info on is this illegal?

[macroban]

My concern starts at the East Dulwich level.

How many local businesses and organisations are properly registered under the Data Protection Act?

The total national registration of Data Controllers is about 270,000. This suggests there may be a local shortfall.

[mockney piers]

Jim, that sounds very very dodgy indeed if you ask me. There's no way your data should go from a bank to an outside organisation. Sheesh, it shouldn't even move within* the organisation outside certain strict rules.

let alone johnny minkey being able to download the lot to a couple of portable media

[Brendan]

What scares me about integrated cards is that we are just one step away from a computer program going through the following process a million time a second:

Customer Identified (Race, Sex, Age, Education, Asset Value, Nationality, Criminal Record, Occupation, Recent Movements) entering platform 1 of station X ? Recent purchase packet of salted crisps ? available credit ?Y ? Previous retail habits analyzed - Search product correlation database ? Products identified ? Deploy sensory suggestions for purchase of soft drink Z ? likely retail outlet station kiosk ? Change suggestive advertising features at kiosk to fit Customer buying/voting profile.

Now think of how that could be used by forces less benign than corporate greed.

[SeanMacGabhann]

indeed Brendan indeed

but then when people say "oooh but it get's me 200 saverpoints at teh supermarket" like that's a GOOD thing it seems inevitable eventually (unless cock-ups like this keep happening. Hey, maybe the whole 2cd-loss was an inside job by a revolutionista?)

[mockney piers]

"Hey, maybe the whole 2cd-loss was an inside job by a revolutionista?"

Or a tory.

[BarryRoad]

Isn't the letter sent to you so that if you don't like the idea of it you can opt out?

[figgins]

But you shouldn't have to opt out. You should have to opt in.

[barrymarshall]

I don't understand why anyone would want one of these cards. Imagine if it got stolen. You've no Oyster card to get home and you can't buy a regular bus/train ticket because you can't get to a hole in the wall, becuase that's gone too (yes, I know this is a credit card, but regular banks are getting in on it too).

I'll just keep to my regular Oyster, thanks, and use cash to buy small items. Are we really so "time-poor" and socially maladjusted that we can't stand to queue for a few mitues and hand over some cash? I don't think it saves time anyway. A case in point is the new Evening (sub)Standard card. I got a card the other day for three free copies of the rag. However, it takes much longer to put the card on the reader and have it authorise the transaction than it does to hand over 50p. Add to that all the trouble of registering your card and topping it up ...

I don't know why I'm moaning, I don't have a Barclaycard ... However, my bank, Halifax, is part of this scheme. I shall be watching out for reportedly apparent underhandedness like this.

[ChavWivaLawDegree]

Silence cannot be taken as acceptance as far as I remember from contract law and there may be a data protection breach too.

[Ultraconsultancy]

It's the TFL part that would worry me. I use an oyster card to get the discounts, but I wouldn't register my personal details on it in a million years. Letting TFL have access to your banking details is something you will regret for the rest of your life, believe me.