Householders have yet to warm to cold-calling protections

COLD-CALLING by direct marketers may enrage many householders but fewer than one in 10 have availed of steps to stop their phone line being targeted.

Just 125,000 customers have taken up the option of telling their phone company to exclude their number from marketing registers since the service came into effect in July last year.

Regulations were introduced allowing phone customers whose number was available in a phone directory or through directory inquiries to have an opt-out notice placed beside their number in the National Directory Database.

Phone companies and marketing firms are now obliged by law to honour the customer’s wishes not to receive unsolicited calls, but ex-directory customers cannot avail of such protection.

The Data Protection Commissioner, who expected a higher take-up of the service, is to run a fresh publicity campaign to make people aware of their rights.

The extension of the service to customers with ex-directory numbers will also be announced next week. These currently fall through a loophole because they are not publicly registered, which means that they can not be publicly marked for exclusion from unsolicited calls.

Sean Sweeney, senior compliance officer with the Data Protection Commissioner’s office, said: “It’s an unfortunate anomaly that the opt-out was introduced without provision for ex-directory customers.”

Typically, cold-calling is used by direct marketing firms conducting surveys, offering goods and services or running competitions on behalf of client companies.

“People involved in marketing will do random number dialling and will hit on a certain percentage of valid numbers without knowing who they belong to or whether they are ex-directory,” Mr Sweeney explained. “With an ex-directory number, it has not been possible to check if the customer has opted out of receiving calls.”

The commissioner, together with ComReg, the telecommunications regulator, has recently completed talks with phone companies and marketing firms about finding a way of protecting ex-directory customers and their solution will be announced next week.

However, not all customers eligible for protection have had their wishes honoured and the commissioner’s annual report for 2005, to be published today, will detail problems with certain operators.

The report will also highlight for the first time complaints against media organisations. Mr Sweeney said 2005 was the first year complaints about the media’s use of private, personal information was received and three cases had been investigated.

Data protection legislation exempts the media from restrictions where it can be argued publication is in the public interest, but the Commissioner will recommend today that the industry develops a code of conduct to ensure the legislation is complied with.