Statement in response to Daily Mail investigation into university fundraising campaigns
Elizabeth Denham, Information Commissioner, said:
“We will look carefully at the individual evidence provided by the Daily Mail to see if, and where, any rules have been broken and what learning there is for wider practice in this area.
“Personal data belongs to the individual and that means they have the right to make choices about how it’s used. The law requires organisations to tell people what it’s going to be used for and who it’s going to be shared with – and that’s what people expect.
“I want to be clear. Profiling individuals for a fundraising campaign itself is not against the law, but failing to clearly tell people that you’re going to do it, is.”
“We have been working with the Fundraising Regulator and talking to universities about their responsibilities around transparency and accountability as they prepare to comply with a new, stronger data protection law coming into force in May next year.
“We have offered to help universities better comply with the rules by working with them on guidelines and codes of practice they can adhere to, so people can continue to have confidence that their information is being used in line with the law.”