At last!

So the phone rings, I do not recognise the number.  First question, do I answer or is it just another call about personal injury I am due?  Curiosity usually gets the better of me!

Now my car has been involved in a couple of accidents, so the offer of compensation for the personal injury I suffered would be lovely; expect I wasn’t in the car at the time and no legal argument in the world will get me any compensation. (I did once try to persuade them that I stubbed my toe, and was in pain for a month, when I jumped up in anger when told of the latest accident but even the cold caller realised I could not recover anything for those losses!)

So, the calls are just a nuisance and end abruptly when I ask where they got my data from or threaten to report them to the Information Commissioner.  

At last, the Information Commissioner has issued a significant fine against a cold-calling firm.  Hopefully, it will serve as a deterrent to others.

On a more serious note, the way data protection is being regulated will change shortly.  The General Data Protection Regulations will affect all businesses who hold personal data (any data that can identify a living person) and every business will be affected in some way, not just cold-calling firms.  

The Information Commissioner will be getting wider and stronger powers to take action against businesses which do not comply.  Make sure your business understands what it needs to do to comply soon, before it is too late.

A cold-calling firm has been fined a record £400,000 by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for making almost 100 million nuisance calls.