Security News > 2024 > March > Spam crusade lands charity in hot water with data watchdog

Typically it is energy improvement peddlers or debt help specialists that are disgraced by Britain's data watchdog for spamming unsuspecting households, but the latest entrant in the hall of shame is a charity.

The charity was found to have dispatched more than 460,000 unsolicited texts during a ten-day period to 52,000 people that had not consented to receive the messages or had "Clearly opted out," the ICO said.

During the course of its official probe, the ICO says it found Penny Appeal had constructed a new database and users' requests to opt out were not recorded, with messages transmitted to "Anyone that had interacted" with the charity inside the past five years.

The charity had previously "Committed to improving compliance with direct marketing law" yet the latest batch of complaints show it was "Still sending illegal marketing texts," the ICO said.

Penny Appeal has 30 days to stop sending marketing comms for which it doesn't have valid consent, something the data regulator wants to remind all charities of.

In 2018, a counseling charity attracted the watchdog's ire after leaving confidential files in a former office building.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/05/penny_appeal_ico_investigation/