StrongMail Survey Unearths Shocking Data Privacy Abuse by UK Businesses
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LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
UK businesses are giving out highly personal and confidential details about their customers to third parties in a bid to boost sales reveals a new survey by StrongMail of 900 UK data protection and marketing professionals.
Despite being amongst the three quarters of UK firms who claim to limit the types of personal information they share with third-parties for marketing purposes, the study shows that some are prepared to give out the type of personal data that would horrify many civil liberty and data privacy groups.
-- Seven percent disclose customers' sexual orientation;
-- One in ten (10%) disclose customers' religious beliefs;
-- One in seven (14%) share details on political affiliation or
activism (14%);
-- One in twenty (5%) give details of ethnic background;
-- A further 19 percent, one in five, give out customer credit
card details.
The survey found that the loss or theft of private and confidential data is endemic amongst UK firms with almost two-thirds (61 percent) of marketing professionals experiencing loss or theft of consumer information over the past 24 months. In 90 percent cases the loss or theft went unreported since they felt that they were either not required to, or were unsure whether they had to, report the incident to the affected customer.
Paul Bates, email marketing expert and managing director of StrongMail UK, said: "Businesses have a moral, ethical obligation to keep private, personal customer data safe and secure. They should not be handing it out to third parties in the hope of making a fast buck. If they choose to do this, and then lose customer data, then they should at least be obliged to admit it."
Study Availability
The full research report 2008 UK Study on Email Marketing Practices & Privacy is available via the following link: http://www.strongmail.com/resources/whitepapers/wp-uk-marketing-practi ces.php
(Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one exists)
About the Ponemon Institute
The Ponemon Institute(C) is dedicated to advancing responsible information and privacy management practices in business and government.
About StrongMail Systems, Inc.
StrongMail Systems provides commercial-grade, on-premise solutions for marketing and transactional email. Hundreds of companies worldwide rely on StrongMail's solutions to power their mission-critical customer communications. To learn more about StrongMail Systems, visit www.strongmail.com.
Source: StrongMail
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