Last week a call center person was at the receiving end of my ire. He called me up and told me that abc was the outstanding on my credit card and I could avail myself of a personal loan to pay it off. What irked me wasn't the call, but the fact that someone had my credit details. And it wasn't the bank or VISA, but some little kid in a call centre who can call up my details and tell me what is on offer.
If my Government did this to me, I would be up in arms. But, stuff like companies outsourcing my data to some third party for a fourth product I have not even asked for is par for the course. And, it isn't just mobile telephony companies and credit card companies that are at fault … every body and his kitchen sink seems to be able to gather information on you … and proposition with stuff that you like or think that you need.
The idea that someone has data on me and is using it to make others attractive to me … is disconcerting. If another human being did, what companies do to you … it would possibly be called stalking. And, while we take cognizance of the steps that the Government takes to keep tabs on our lives, for most of us .. the thought that corporate entities would be tracking our activities does not really bother us to the extent that it should.
But, it bothers the father of the internet [tag]Tim Berner Lee[/tag]
The creator of the web has said consumers need to be protected against systems which can track their activity on the internet.
Sir Tim said he did not want his ISP to track which websites he visited.
"I want to know if I look up a whole lot of books about some form of cancer that that's not going to get to my insurance company and I'm going to find my insurance premium is going to go up by 5% because they've figured I'm looking at those books," he said.
Sir Tim said his data and web history belonged to him.He said: "It's mine – you can't have it. If you want to use it for something, then you have to negotiate with me. I have to agree, I have to understand what I'm getting in return."
It is such logic … they are using rights that you haven't assigned to them …. as such they are violating your IP 🙂 that would be an interesting legal argument
Interesting point. The main reasons why such data sharing in India happens are – a complete absence of data protection laws, lack of security infrastructure in protecting consumer data and a complete absence of scruples amongst employees.
I received a mail from a Bank-B employee’s personal mail account asking me to move from Bank-I from where he had just moved to Bank-B as an employee. I was outraged. I reported it to Bank-I and as chance would have it, I know the global marketing director of Bank-B (a British bank) so I forwarded the mail to him and made a formal complaint. I also gently threatened the possibility of reporting Bank-B to the Financial Services Authority since I live in the UK and have been a past customer of Bank-B in the UK (still with me?). That guy lost his job and wrote me a rude mail which I forwarded to Bank-B and Bank-I.
Tim B-L is right and after all, consumers have to be vigilant about what they do and what they give and what they get back in return.
The laws exist … it is compliance with the law that is a problem…
and for some peculiar reason the MNC’s – the Standard Chartered Banks and the ABN Ambro’s and the Barclay’s seem to be more of a pain than an ICICI or a HDFC….
There’s one more reason why this data sharing happens: because, you have authorised it.
Have you read all the declarations in fine print when signing up for a credit card or any product from these banks/institutions? I edit legalese for one such bank. I routinely come across a ‘declaration about receiving information on products and services’.
In this declaration, you are made to ‘declare’ that you have no objection to receiving offers via phone/e-mail/SMS on any of their or their partners’ products.
Funnily, this declaration comes with a ‘Yes’ ‘no’ option for the Bank’s overseas forms, whereas in the domestic forms, there is no such option. You simply have to sign.
hello viju and welcome to this blog
actually i read most things that i sign… in the case of my credit card … it is issued way back in 1995 and i am not quite sure whether there was any opt out then….:)