Experian to appeal ICO’s decision regarding handling of personal data
On October 27th, 2020 the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) issued an enforcement notice against the credit reference agency Experian Limited, ordering it to make fundamental changes to how it handles personal data related to its direct marketing services in the United Kingdom.
An ICO investigation found that at the three largest credit reference agencies (CRAs) in the UK significant ‘invisible’ processing took place, likely affecting millions of adults in the UK. Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, were ‘trading, enriching and enhancing’ people’s personal data without their knowledge to provide direct marketing services. The data was used by commercial organisations, political parties for political campaigning, or charities for their fundraising campaigns. Some of the CRAs were also using profiling to generate new or previously unknown information about people.
While Equifax and TransUnion made adequate improvements to their marketing practices, the ICO found Experian’s efforts to be insufficient and the processing of personal data to remain non-compliant with the data protection law. As a result, Experian has been given an enforcement notice compelling it to make changes within nine months or it will face financial penalties under the GDPR.
Experian is going to appeal the decision by the ICO regarding the notice over data protection failures. In a statement, the Chief Executive Officer Brian Cassin said:
We disagree with the ICO’s decision today and we intend to appeal. At heart this is about the interpretation of GDPR and we believe the ICO’s view goes beyond the legal requirements. This interpretation also risks damaging the services that help consumers, thousands of small businesses and charities, particularly as they try to recover from the COVID-19 crisis.
We share the ICO’s goals on the need to provide transparency, maintain privacy and ensure consumers are in control of their data. The Experian Consumer Information Portal makes it very easy for consumers to fully understand the ways we work with data and to opt out of having their data processed if they wish.
