ICO Fines Easylife £1.48 Million For Data Protection Violations
The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) announced a fine in a case that involved inferring health data and using this for marketing. The ICO found that catalogue retailer Easylife Limited had profiled 145,400 individuals for inferred health conditions without their consent, based on certain “trigger products” that they had purchased from Easylife’s Health Catalogue.
For example, if a customer bought a jar opener or a dinner tray, Easylife would infer that the customer might have arthritis, and then call them to market glucosamine joint patches. The ICO has fined Easylife £1.48 million: £1.35 million for using customers’ personal information to sell health-related products without their consent, and a further £130,000 for making unsolicited direct marketing calls.
Source: ICO Fines Easylife £1.48 Million For Data Protection and E-Marketing Violations | Inside Privacy
