Industry watchdog: “DMC – Consent should be given, not taken”
14th January, 2016 at 15:40pm
In 2015 the actions of data brokers came under tremendous media scrutiny. The work of the Direct Marketing Commission (DMC) over 2014 to 2015 has reflected these developments while investigating those DMA members that have been the subject of complaints.
Between 1 July 2014 and 30 June 2015, the DMC received 262 complaints direct from the public. Of these, 60 related to DMA members and the remainder were referred to the appropriate statutory or self-regulatory body. There were five formal investigations and most of these involved issues that had affected many of the general public and had been the cause of hundreds of complaints to other bodies or media criticism.
In two cases the Commission upheld breaches of the DMA Code. In three cases the Commission set out where it thought reforms were need to ensure compliance with the DMA Code. In all cases the changes were agreed. In each case the Commission shares its findings with the DMA and it has been an active contributor to initiatives by the Association to ensure DMA membership is seen as proof of a commitment to standards and trust in the market place.
Complaints have typically been around consent to marketing calls and messages, how and when it was given, and how the data was then used.
“The DMA Code says members are responsible for the proper sourcing, consents and cleansing of the data they trade and that members are responsible for the actions of their suppliers. The DMC wants to make sure that these rules are applied. We see it as a problem if things go wrong and members tell us they relied on the assurances of others that consent has been given for the use of data but did nothing to check that this was true.
“It’s simply not good enough for people to buy and sell data if they have no means of satisfying themselves that the people involved have given consent for the information to be shared in the way proposed.
“Consent is something people give, not something that is taken,” said DMC Chief Commissioner George Kidd.
From 1st January 2016, the DMC has appointed two new Industry Commissioners to help in its work – Fuel CEO Charles Ping and Fedelma Good, Director of Information Policy and Strategy at Barclays, who replaces retiring Commissioners David Coupe and Danny Meadows-Klue. We thank David and Danny for their hard work and commitment to the DMC.
Both Charles and Fedelma are data specialists. Fedelma Good began her career in banking in Dublin, gaining her MSc in computer science, and then moving to London where she further built her career with Deloitte, Equifax, Acxiom and running her own consultancy before going back to banking, this time with Barclays as Director of Information Policy and Strategy.
Charles has more than 25 years’ experience as a client, a supplier and running an agency. He is also a former chair of the Direct Marketing Association, and for the past 10 years has been a non-executive director of the Advertising Standards Board of Finance, which regulates non-broadcast advertising.
The DMC’s annual report can be downloaded from http://www.dmcommission.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/DMC-Annual-Report-2014-15.pdf
