Data Protection

Experian and the ICO

About a month ago, the disagreement between the ICO and Experian finally headed towards closure with the following sentence: “The Information Commissioner’s Appeal is dismissed.” This succinct statement was followed up by 57 closely written pages of…


Privacy in 2024

Privacy Areas To Watch in 2024

There’s so much for direct marketing privacy professionals and practitioners to look out for in 2024. Towards the end of last year, the ICO told us they’d written to owners of some of the UK’s most visited websites where they could see that cookie…


Confused women on sofa with laptop.

Privacy and the Value Exchange

Gartner, the technological research consultancy, conducted a study into the opinions of CMOs in Europe, the UK and the US over November and December 2022. The headlines coming out of that research suggest a slightly gloomy picture for marketers…


gavel block

The ICO and Experian - What have we learned?

On Monday this week, the First-Tier Tribunal published its judgment on Experian’s appeal against the ICO’s enforcement notice. The tribunal allowed the appeal in part and made a substitute decision with such minor ramifications for Experian that…


fundraising direct mail

Why are Fundraisers returning to Direct Mail

Charities in Britain are facing the double pressures of the cost-of-living crisis impacting donor numbers and values. November is usually the peak donation month and November 2022 saw 3.8m fewer donors than a typical pre-pandemic year. Now the…


woman stressed

Why is the Halfords Fine vexing marketers?

Halfords sent around half a million emails informing customers of a government scheme for bike servicing. They considered the email was a service email, so it was also sent to people who had opted out of marketing emails. But as the email directed…


Seller Beware

Seller Beware

Organisations are regularly fined for using data sourced from brokers or other suppliers without ensuring consent has been captured correctly, or without establishing another lawful basis for processing. With rare exceptions, the organisation is…