INDIVIDUALS SHOULD be allowed to refuse direct text messages, e-mails or phone calls from candidates running for election, the Data Protection Commissioner has said.
The commissioner’s office received “a large number” of complaints about such unsolicited messages in the run-up to the local elections last June, but was unable to investigate them because they are exempt under the law.
Data Protection Commissioner Billy Hawkes said he found it “somewhat unsatisfactory” to have to inform the complainants that he was unable to launch investigations into the contacts, even when the person had made it clear they did not wish to receive such messages.
He said this was due to the definition of “direct marketing” in the Data Protection Acts.
The definition includes “direct mailing other than direct mailing carried out in the course of political activities by a political party or its members, or a body established by or under statute, or a candidate for election to, or a holder of, elective political office”.
Mr Hawkes said he had “doubts” about the consistency of this definition with EU directives in this area. He had brought such doubts to the attention of the Department of Justice.
Mr Hawkes said he also received a number of complaints from individuals who were concerned about the manner in which their details were accessed by the candidates for election to facilitate the contact that was made.
