Has Data Protection gone mad ?

[sigma]

I recently arranged for some property repairs to be carried out. My wife telephoned the company to inquire what time they would be starting but was told she couldn't have that information as the work order was in my name and to disclose that to a third party would contravene the Data Protection Act.

[albaqwerty]

I hope they're not going to expect her to make them a brew.

Complete insanity.

[ChuckFickens]

No it's not gone mad. how are they to know if you and your wife are still together or separated and how would you feel if they had of given the information out to somebody you didn't want to know the information?

[albaqwerty]

You could authorise them to talk to your wife.

Sometimes my husband has to speak to various people and mentions to them that his wife (me) has the information in more detail, would they please talk to her and then passes me the phone.

[chrissa1]

Good point Chuck but I used to order all my late husband's repeat prescriptions over the phone. No probs.

[lorri24601]

I live in a private road, we have to pay for all repairs from a fund we set up and pay into monthly.One neighbour always refused to pay into the fund, but on two occasions organised for work to be carried out that only benefited their own property, whilst telling the company to send the bill to the residents association for payment.We wrote to the companies involved explaining that this person had nothing to do with the residents association and therefore no payments would be made.Maybe the company you contacted have also had their fingers burnt in a similar way and only deal with one person.I have no idea if our neighbour paid up or not, i guess they did as no one came and dug the path up again lol.

[ChuckFickens]

when ordering a repeat prescription you are giving them information though, not them you...

Think of it this way. somebodies ex-wife calls a building contractor to ask when they will be attending the property to carry out works, they get given the information and then turn up at that time, say "hi I'm Mrs XXX" and gain access to the property and walk out with a load of stuff.

In the above situation I wonder if sigma would calmly say.... oh it's no problem, or would they be shouting from the roof tops about the data protection act being broken?

Like a lot of things people complain when it inconveniences them in either direction.

[albaqwerty]

Had to go out yesterday to find out about 'stuff' concerning me and my son.
One side was in my name relatinig to him, other was to do with him (nothinig serious or sinister) but to prevent any confuddling with the DPA, we both went and got it sorted.

[sigma]

Whilst I appreciate the situation of the estranged spouse, surely this not the reason why the Data Protection Act was introduced.

It seems to be a "jobsworth" incorrectly interpreting the act.

[ChuckFickens]

"Whilst I appreciate the situation of the estranged spouse, surely this not the reason why the Data Protection Act was introduced."

It's exactly the reason, to stop data stored about you being passed onto third parties without your consent. As I said, the building contractors are not psychics so they do not know if a person claiming to be your wife is authorised to have data released to them.

[milly143]

This is the stupid thing though, we used to insure our company vans with More Than. It was my job to take care of any issues with the insurance but my name was never on their records and I wasn't insured myself so whenever I called them to ask something they would go through all the security questions and then inform me they couldn't speak to me without the permission of a director. So I would put one of the directors on the phone to More Than to say it was ok to speak to me. More Than would then happily provide all the info I needed. The thing is, how the flip do they know the bloke they spoke to had anything to do with the company at all, I could have just grabbed him off the street. Doesn't really work in practice.

[themas]

This is an example of what is all too frequent these days - a total lack of common sense! To me, it's obvious that if they have an order for work to be done at your address the fact that they are rung by someone who knows that & simply wants a bit of information should be enough. How would a stranger know that you had ordered the work? Why would a stranger want to know when it would start?

[JackDanielsU]

Themas

This is an example of what is all too frequent these days - a total lack of common sense! - DPA is there for a reason, its to safeguard YOU.

To me, it's obvious that if they have an order for work to be done at your address the fact that they are rung by someone who knows that & simply wants a bit of information should be enough. How would a stranger know that you had ordered the work? - Many people,...an estranged partner, a burglar etc

Why would a stranger want to know when it would start? - Well if its a burglar its pretty obvious.

I really dont know why people cant acccept that if you ring up a company, but the policy etc isnt in your name, then you have no right to have any information divulged.

[flip_flop]

The situation you describe does not contravene the Data Protection Act.

Unfortunately many data holders are confused about the Act and quote it unneccesarily, in the same way that some people also wrongly won't allow certain activities due to 'Health & Safety'.

[grffindoor2011]

I worked closely with the DP Act a few years ago and also had dealings with the first Data Protection Registrar Eric Howe. In my opinion the DP act applies under personal data held. Ultimately the 'wife' could have been anyone.