Small firms using test and trace details for marketing

COMPANIES could be breaching data laws over test and trace after people complained of receiving marketing information, a consumer champion said.

Martin Lewis, of Moneysavingexpert .com, warned small companies that they could face fines if they misused the personal information customers hand over for contact tracing purposes.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live that after attending a barber’s shop and giving his phone number for tracking, he received a marketing text from the firm.

The Information Commissioner’s Office guidelines for test and trace, published last week, said this was against the rules, and the watchdog previously said it would take any complaints very seriously.

Lewis said: “About five days later from that barber hairdresser, that I had never been to before, I got a marketing text. I had specifically been asked for [my details for] test and trace. When I posted this on Twitter… many other people had had a similar experience.

“I think it’s important for businesses to understand that when you ask people for their details for coronavirus it’s only usable for check and trace.” He did not name the hairdresser.

ICO guidelines say: “Data protection law states that personal data which has been collected for a specific purpose should not be used for other reasons which conflict with the original purpose. This includes direct marketing or advertising, profiling your customer base or analysing demographics. This would be considered as a misuse of the information.”

Lewis added: “If companies start doing this then people are going to stop giving them their check and trace details.

‘If companies start doing this then people are going to stop giving them their check and trace details’

This will hit us all if there were to be a problem, [such as] if people deliberately give the wrong details so they can’t be tracked.”

Paul Arnold, the ICO deputy chief executive, said it appreciated the “challenge” faced by small businesses who were introducing “unfamiliar arrangements at speed” and that it would focus on “supporting and enabling” them to be responsible with customer information. The ICO confirmed it had received complaints from individuals but did not say how many.