‘Irish Times’ and retailer sent unsolicited emails

The Irish Times and Littlewoods Ireland have been given chances to avoid criminal convictions for breaking e-privacy regulations by sending customers unsolicited emails.

Following separate investigations by the office of the Data Protection Commissioner, they pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court yesterday. Judge John O’Neill said the cases would be struck out if The Irish Times Ltd gave €3,000 to suicide prevention charity Pieta House while Littlewoods must donate €5,000 to the same cause.

Tony Delaney, assistant Data Protection Commissioner, told Judge O’Neill the message for companies involved in electronic marketing is that there has to be “robust testing of technology behind their databases”.