I received a phone call on my mobile on Friday from a an organisor of Earth Hour. I was slightly surprised to receive a call on my mobile due to the fact that when I offered my details when joining the campaign on the website it was confirmed that there was a high level of confidentiality.
The male who phoned me spoke to me in a relatively colloquial manner as if he was phoning a friend. Without me being able to get a word in edgeways, he spoke (not in depth) about the importance of the campaign and it results as well as the statistics of the amount of people, countries and businesses who took part.
I was slightly confused as about twenty minutes had past and no actual point had been made about why he was calling me apart from thanking me in every other sentance.
The penny then dropped when he highlighted the gift aid campaign that “so many have been kind enough to take part in”, which constists of me giving £10 a month to the WWF. “But I am a student” I exclaimed.
To cut a long story short, I told him I would look into it on their website and pass the message on to my parents who potentially could take part.
I am however astonished at the amount of details he had of mine as well as the fact that he called me on my mobile and would be very interested to know if that is allowed.
Yes, this is illegal – it’s a breach of the data protection rules. Data should only be used for the purposes for which it was provided, or for which permission was given. You can report them to the Information Commissioner if you really wish.