The beauty of EU Directive 2016/680

We all seem to be bombarded by companies seeking to to put their house in order in preparation for EU Directive 2016/680, the Data Protection Law Enforcement Directive.  Yes on the surface it seems like another piece of bureaucracy, but there are benefits!

I have a silly dispute with Sky.  They say I owe them £30, I've written to them many times telling them nicely they wrong, it really is down to their error and thought they would accept the position.  Wrong.  I've had more regular emails with what can only be described as goobledegook, which is clearly intended to harass me.

So a couple of weeks ago I took the troube to write to them, politely explaining the position attaching copies of emails etc assuming that would be an end to it.  But no, today I received an apology, without any explanation with a £10 "credit note".  The amount is arbitrary, it is silly, although they seem to think that if they can bombard me with stuff for long enough I will pay the balance of their charge, which simply makes no sense at all.

But we now have the EU Directive 2016/680, which inter alia will prohibit such cavalier behaviour, which otherwise will become actionable.  I've never encountered anything like this situation with Sky, but there are companies in the past where I've been unable to stop them sending me "sales" spam stuff.  Some days I've received more of this than genuine emails and the danger is that you can inadvertently delete the wrong one. 

So I'm in favour of EU Directive 2016/680 - and hope this is the end of an era of harassment by email!

 

It’s all a numbers game, 8 out of 10 people will pay just to get rid of the issue. These companies know it.

I'm sure you are right Kavanagh, but now we have some legislation that will make like more difficult for these big companies that try to bully people.

I'm not vaguely suggesting that people shouldn't pay their debts, quite the reverse.  But there is an awful lot of sharp practice - particularly in certain sectors.  This legislation will make their devious tactics more difficult.  It should be a breath of fresh air for consumers in several ways.

The EU has a long history of protecting consumer rights. Phone roaming charges being one recent benefit and the abolition of digital media geo.restrictions.

Imagine a Europe of separate states with differing rules and regulation competing with each other in a dog eat dog scenario.

Mickey,

                Are you one of those Globalists: open borders, open society, new world order types. That makes you like most of the EU MEPs; an admirer of George Soros(a very dangerous man).

That question makes for an interesting debate, One that would go off topic and hi-jack the thread.

However I can answer positively to both. I am an admirer of George Soros who has given over $32 billion to philanthropic work around the world.

Great piece of legislation in my view.

Unfortunately the only contacts/companies asking me to stay signed up are the ones I want to keep anyway, The ones I'd like to ditch haven't been in touch yet - I wonder why?

Glad someone else share the view.  I've got too many companies that send me junk mail.  The ones I know are respectable are long gone.  But the problem ones are those you don't know, ot think may be iffy.

An IT guy told me a while ago not to open any email I'm usure of, so I haven't, but the little blighters keep on sending them.

I know there may be an option to click on a "unsubscribe" tab, but I'm never quite sure this is good.  Also some of mine are from the USA and I've no idea if they have the same rules.

I'm not that bothered, but just think the legislation may reduce the amount of spam, which is simply a waste of time.  And provides a weapon against some.  I believe in free speach but a few of them don't know when to shut-up.

Same here. Don't get a huge amount, about five a day from various companies who I've enquired or bought something from years ago.

However, it looks like they've finally cottoned on to the new rules as I've had about 10 in the last couple of days with "We're updating our privacy policy", companies like a cruise line we used some years ago, Ryanair, Cotton Traders and so on.

One or two I've agreed to keep (Nissan for one as they send me a discount voucher on the car service each year - I can put up with the offers) but most I've said no thanks or simply deleted.

Unfortunately the Spam keeps coming. Two today from "Rev Peter Cox" and "Bless the Lord with Us" plus the "I have 10 squillion in an account in Libya/Kenya/Afghanistan I'd like to share with you". (I did have one saying I have $6,80 dollars awaiting your transfer so that one couldn't be setting his sights very high).

It'll be nice not to have to delete all these things first thing in the morning.

Despite it can seem difficult to implement/understand I do think the Data Protection New Regulations place order in the a bit  wild world of online marketing