Sky backs down over customer data plan

SKY TV has backed down to threats of legal action from the Irish data watchdog over radical plans to provide personal information of subscribers to other companies.

The Data Protection Commissioner said it had “suspended” legal enforcement against Sky after the broadcasting company withdrew a notice it sent out to its 500,000-plus subscribers in the Republic.

This followed pointed discussions between senior DPC officials and Sky executives after the company sent out a notice to customers early last week.

The notice told subscribers that Sky had “reviewed” the way it used their personal information and that it would share that information with other companies in the British Sky Broadcasting group as well as outside companies, including credit reference agencies and marketing and sales firms.

Assistant commissioner Tony Delaney yesterday said Sky had withdrawn the notice and that information to this effect would be placed on the home page of the Irish section of the Sky website.

He said the withdrawal followed an “extraordinary high” number of complaints from Irish customers of Sky to the commission. He said there was “intensive contact” between the office and Sky as a result.

“The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner considered the changes to be unacceptable. Furthermore, several customers reported extreme difficulty in trying to contact Sky to convey their preferences in relation to the content of the notice.”

It is understood some customers spent more than a half an hour telephoning an English phone line to get through.

Mr Delaney said Sky had committed to issuing a revised notice to customers in the February edition of the Sky Magazine, which will be published in January and to fully engage with the commission in relation to its content.

“Arising from this withdrawal of the customer notice and the undertaking to work with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner to seek to ensure that any future notice is in full compliance with Irish Data Protection Law, planned legal enforcement action which the commissioner had intended initiating today has been suspended.”

Commissioner Billy Hawkes said: “I welcome Sky’s voluntary withdrawal, in response to the concerns that have been raised with my office by some of its customers, of the unacceptable notice that issued in relation to its use of customer data.

“The practices outlined in the notice were unacceptable for Irish Data Protection law. My office’s discussions with Sky have sought to ensure that the strong rights that Irish citizens enjoy under Irish and European law are fully respected by the company. I look forward to a continuation of those discussions.”