Nuisance Marketing

The Data Protection Act protects individuals from directly targeted 'nuisance' marketing. If you are being bothered by those 'double glazing' phone calls at home, then all you have to do is call the preference service and register your objection to receiving unsolicited marketing phone calls.

Any person making marketing calls to a domestic line must, by DPA law, check this preference list prior to the call and accede to your 'preference'.

If they don't, and they make that marketing call, they are in breach of the Data Protection Act and you can report them to the Information Commissioner. Usually a reminder that they have transgressed your privacy and a request that they please remove your name from their database is sufficient to get rid of the nuisance.

Similar preference lists exist for domestic faxes and junk mail delivered to the home.

Business communications are also offered some protection from nuisance marketing, but not to the same extent as domestic lines, since marketing is a legitimate business activity.

So the Data Protection Act has its up side too!

Direct Marketing Association :
Haymarket house, 1 Oxendon Street, London SW1Y 4EE
Tel : 0171-321-2525

Mailing Preference Service :
Dept AM, Freepost 22, London W1E 7EZ

To request a registration form, call : 0171-766-4410

Telephone preference service : 0845-070-0707

Fax preference service : 0845-070-0702

These numbers are used to register a data subject's objection to direct marketing.