5 Replies
-
Monday, November 05 2012, 12:30PM
“Don't vote for him then.'”
-
Friday, November 09 2012, 11:05PM
“Now you know that Data Protection was created for purposes other than to protect the public.”
-
Saturday, November 10 2012, 7:36PM
“He probably bought it from some porn site or other. He probably now watches your every move, via this forum. Best way to make sure this doen't happen again is to throw your computer out of the window, and don't go online again. Ever. Please.”
-
Sunday, November 11 2012, 2:03AM
“As a non-partisan citizen who's worked with the Bristol LibDems (and all other parties) on two occasions, I haven't received any unsolicited (e)mail from Mr Levy, the LibDems or any other party.
It is not a breach of the Data Protection Act to use information for authorised purposes, which the list is designated for. The breach would be whoever put your email on that list in the first place.
You do not say if the LibDems apologised and/or removed you from that list. Nor do you disclose a real name. 6 days before a highly partisan election, one might wonder at the credibility of this claim.” -
Sunday, November 11 2012, 3:11PM
“Dave, my claim is entirely creditable and Pete Levy knows that. I have given him the opportunity to respond to help me resolve this but received no reply.
As it happens, I will likely vote for him but I'm not confusing the issues for which he stands with his misuse of my personal data.
It is a breach of the Data Protection Act for my personal information to be used this way. Had I given my email address to the Lib Dems so they could contact me, even if I hadn't given express permission for it to be be used for election campaining, then I would accept that. However, I have never given my personal information to the Lib Dems, other than as I said to Steve Webb. So the Lib Dems have garnered my information from somewhere, they are unable / unwilling to tell me from where, and Pete Levy has used it without seemingly being too concerned about the leaglity of the source.
So I beg to differ. Yes, I shouldn't have been put on that emailing list in the first place but the offence to my mind is by Pete Levy using this information without ensuring that he could legitimately use it.”
Join the Discussion
Ads by Google
Here to help
Copyright © 2013 Local World. All Rights Reserved.
“Pete Levy and the Law
Pete Levy, who is standing for election as Avon and Somerset Police Commissioner, sent me an unsolicited email as part of his election campaign. I find it somewhat hypocritical and naive that a man who is an ex-police officer and standing for this role should use my email address without my permission. As I understand it, this is against the requirements of the Data Protection Act.
I contacted him to ask where he got my email address from and when I had given him my permission to contact me. I got a response saying that my details had been acquired from a more general Lib Dem mailing list "maintained over a period of time with contributions from previous surveys from local councillors and parliamentary candidates".
Not only did Pete Levy have my email address he also had my name, as the email was addressed to me in person. I don't ever recall giving the Lib Dems my information nor being asked for permission for my details to be used for election campaigning. Data Protection law requires this permission to be given for personal information to be used in this way.
I have provided my name and email address to my MP, Steve Webb, in the past and he has assured me that he has never shared these details to anyone within the wider Lib Dem organisation and I can say he has never used my details to contact me as part of his campaigning.
Despite my requests to Pete Levy to be put in touch with the data owner of the data he used, I have heard no more.
I am heartily sick of receiving this sort of unsolicited email - spam - and I am not very impressed at the way that I feel Pete Levy effectively dismissed my concerns. It is a matter that is important enough to have laws made to prevent it, and I'm not sure I want someone with this cavalier attitude to the law in charge of the police in Avon and Somerset.”