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ICO's new weapon in consumer data battle

16 June 2009

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has launched the new Privacy Notices Code of Practice.

It is the most recent step in the ICO's continuing battle to ensure consumers are kept informed about how and why their personal data will be processed.

Months of ICO research has revealed that over half of consumers do not understand what they are signing up to when they fill in online and paper forms.

So it is taking steps to stop the use of confusing privacy notices preventing individuals from understanding exactly how their information will be processed.

This initiative means that simply displaying a privacy notice on the forms you use to collect information is not automatically sufficient to ensure you are complying with Principle 1 of the Data Protection Act 1998.

In the event that a complaint is received by the ICO, the Information Commissioner has confirmed that he may apply the standards set out in the Code in order to take a view on whether or not the privacy notice used was adequate.

So organisations must now ensure that their privacy notices are user-friendly and clear. They should not contain legal jargon, but should be written in language that can be understood by the very people they aim to protect.

The ICO envisages two key benefits from this approach:

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