New powers have been given to the UK government department tasked with policing data protection, including the right to issue fines of up to £500,000 for serious breaches of personal data. Speaking at the DMA annual data protection conference, the Commissioner talked of email and online marketing as sectors that have forced the regulator to focus on the new types of data challenges, giving a clear warning to the digital marketing industry to ensure compliancy.
05/03/2010
Speaking to us on the step-change in their enforcement role, he said “we have a big stick and will not be afraid to use it”.
The powers follow similar sharpening of the teeth of data regulators across Europe. In Germany fines of €300,000 have been in place for some time and industry sources have indicated to us that more than 42,000 complaints have been registered in that market alone.
In parallel with the new powers come broader initiatives to alert the public to the issues relating to data protection – a move anticipated to increase awareness of the complaints process that will unlock a wave of complaints that currently consumers are unclear on how to proceed.
