WIREDGOV

With six months to go until the Scottish referendum on independence, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is reminding political parties and campaign groups of the rules relating to electronic marketing and the importance of getting it right.

The ICO has today published updated guidance to help organisations that are carrying out political campaigning to comply with the Data Protection Act and Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, which govern electronic marketing and include political campaigning and canvassing.

The ‘Guidance on Political Campaigning’ states that campaigning organisations must:

• only send marketing emails, texts or make automated telephone calls to people who have consented to being contacted;
• identify themselves and provide an easy way to opt-out of future direct marketing at all times;
• be clear on whether they are carrying out market research (seeking someone’s opinions) or political campaigning (seeking to persuade them to vote a certain way); and
• be extremely careful when using ‘viral marketing’ that encourages individuals to contact friends and family on the organisation’s behalf.

The warning comes after the campaigning group, Better Together, had to sign an undertaking in November last year after sending 300,000 text messages to individuals without adequately checking whether they had consented to being contacted.

ICO Assistant Commissioner for Scotland and Northern Ireland, Ken Macdonald, said:

“Engaging voters is vital for a healthy democracy, but campaigners must abide by the law. Over the next six months, the political parties and campaign groups involved in the referendum debate will come under intense scrutiny from the media and the public, so it is in their interests to get this right. Failure to do so will leave an organisation facing potential enforcement action by our office and reputational damage to their cause.”

Notes to Editors

1. The Information Commissioner’s Office upholds information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals.

2. The ICO regulates the Data Protection Act 1998, the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. In Scotland, freedom of information is a devolved matter and Scottish public authorities are subject to the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 which is regulated by the Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner in St Andrews.

3. The ICO is on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and produces a monthly e-newsletter.

4. Anyone who processes personal information must comply with eight principles of the Data Protection Act, which make sure that personal information is:

• Fairly and lawfully processed
• Processed for limited purposes
• Adequate, relevant and not excessive
• Accurate and up to date
• Not kept for longer than is necessary
• Processed in line with your rights
• Secure
• Not transferred to other countries without adequate protection

5. If you need more information, please contact the ICO press office on 0303 123 9070.