Tag: privacy

I’ve now recieved a positive response from UK train operator East Coast in relation to the data collection and retention concerns I had after booking a journey with them recently.

The general gist of it is that the mandatory collection of marketing data like age, number of children, etc., were “not as specified”, and it is “being fixed” so that it’s no longer mandatory to enter these details just to change your account data, such as your email address, or opt-in/out status of marketing emails.

They don’t, however, consider the information collected as excessive, as long as it’s optional and you volunteered it in the first place.

But at least they have said they are fixing the inappropriate mandatory fields in their webforms.

Before you get too excited, I’ve not heard anything back from the powers that be at UK railway operator East Coast about the data protection concerns I have after booking tickets online. It’s only been a week. Let’s give them some time…

However, I did make the train journey whose booking let me to be concerned about the excessive and irrelevant data they were collecting, which could only be stored for one reason, and that is to improve their market intelligence.

During the journey, I used the on-train wifi, for which it requires you to “register”, and asks you provide another stream of compulsory personal information. While they didn’t want to know my inside leg measurement this time, again they want to know who I am, where I live, what’s my nearest station, and what is my reason for travelling, again as “mandatory” responses, before allowing you to use the on-train wifi service.

I don’t understand how your nearest station, or why you’re travelling, are relevant to allowing you to access the on-train internet access service. Of course, I didn’t actually put any genuine details in this contact form.

This wifi registration page also presents the “opt-in” for marketing email as already ticked – so if you don’t notice and don’t untick the box, you’re opted in to their email marketing. While it complies with the letter of the law, it doesn’t really feel to be in the spirit of the law.

What’s your perception of East Coast’s data collection and retention policies based on what you’ve read?

…at least if you’re UK train operator East Coast.

I thought nothing of booking some train tickets online. I even got a decent deal. I doubt I could have done the journey cheaper in the car. They wanted me to register with the site, but then, most train companies do. They gave you an option to opt-out of email, which I took.

So, you can imagine my surprise when the next day, I got an email from East Coast, which started with “Now that you’re registered with us, we’ll be able to send you exclusive offers by email…”

Erm. No, you shouldn’t be…

So, I thought I’d log into the East Coast website and check my communication preferences.

Not only did it show me as being opted in, but in order to untick the box and opt out, you have to complete some mandatory information in the “My account” page, before it will save the preferences and unsubscrive you from their mailshots.

What sort of information is it asking for?

• My nearest rail station
• My year of birth
• How many children I have and how old they are
• What the purpose of my journeys usually is
• Who else I buy train tickets from

Now, having to fill this irrelevant information in just to change your preferences and unsubscribe from a mailing list, seems a bit excessive, don’t you think?

Note that you don’t have to give any of this information when ordering the train ticket itself (otherwise I’d have gone to an alternate online ticket seller, if I’d have known), just if you need to change anything in your account.

Yes, it’s very obvious that they are harvesting this information to build market intelligence, but this should not be collected on a mandatory basis.

I also tried the “Unsubscribe” link in the marketing email they sent, however that seems to have no effect on the preferences shown in the account on their website, which still show me as opted in.

Such an attitude to collection and retention of personal data seems a bit cavalier, doesn’t it?

I very sensibly used a + sign and token in the email address I used when signing up with East Coast, which makes the email address they use to reach me unique to them. So if they are seriously cavalier (i.e. stupid enough to sell it on to a third party) then I know whodunnit.

(Another irony is that the input sanity checking in their email contact form won’t accept a + sign token, of course, while their website will as  part of a username.)

It seems East Coast may find themselves foul of the Email Marketing Regulations and the Data Protection Act:

• Sending marketing email which has not been asked for.
• An unsubscribe mechanism which appears to be ineffective.
• Mandatory collection and retention of irrelevant and excessive data.

I had a quick chat with a very helpful person from the ICO helpline yesterday, about how to approach the complaint, they agreed that it didn’t seem right that one had to provide such personal data in order to change one’s email marketing preferences, and told me to conduct all communication with East Coast in writing and keep copies of everything.

I’ve written (yes, snail mail!) directly to a suitably senior bod at East Coast explaining my concerns, and I’ll let you know what I hear.