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Political marketing: Privacy rules 'must be respected'
Marketing News |
10/03/2010
The UK's political parties must ensure they respect privacy rules when marketing themselves ahead of the spring general election, it has been claimed.
Christopher Graham, the information commissioner, has warned constituency candidates and the parties they represent of the consequences of a lack of regulatory compliance.
Speaking at the Direct Marketing Association's (DMA) annual Data Protection Conference, he said the Information Commissioner's Office would be issuing guidance on communicating through marketing channels such as direct mail, SMS text, emails, telemarketing and automated phone calls.
He explained that political parties are subject to the same data privacy rules and punitive sanctions as the marketing industry when promoting their activities via direct mail.
Robert Keitch of the DMA said companies that have breached data regulations and put customer data at risk have not only received negative media coverage but lost customers, damaged their brand and incurred significant punitive fines imposed by regulators.
"Political parties can expect the same treatment if they fail to respect data privacy rules when they promote themselves to voters through direct marketing," he added.
A general election must be staged in the UK by Thursday June 3rd at the latest, bringing the third term of the Labour government to an end.
Posted by Stephen Wilkinson
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