How to withdraw consent to having my account details, including mobile number shared with social

[Mark39]

@CorvusCoraxM32 I've added your post to the existing thread on this subject. Please see Sky's (Chloe-W22's) post on 31st July for how to do this.

[CorvusCoraxM32]

As there is no direct method, yet, of pre-objecting, I've sent in a complaint detailing that I do not consent to the sharing of my data beyond what is absolutely required to provide the service I pay for.

If they cannot assure me that my consent withdrawal is being taken seriously, then I will cancel my service, without further payment obligation, as they are changing the fabric of the terms.

There is zero need for any data sharing with social media, especially as we already receive their offers.

[Mark39]

@CorvusCoraxM32 Chloe's post explains how you can withdraw consent now, so I'm unclear on your grounds for complaint.

[CorvusCoraxM32]

I have read through the mega-thread.

There was a Staff Member saying that an option would be available in October, which is too far away for those of us who will have forgotten that Sky wants to do it by then, and may not remember to select the appropriate option before data is shared.

Therefore, the complaint is not just on the plans to share so much personal data with other companies, but also the fact there is no option to opt out now, when they are notifying us of the plans.

It's appearing to be a hugely unpopular plan on Sky's part. I'm just glad I'm not the only person objecting.

[greenandroid]

I thought one of the main purposes of GDPR was to put personal data under the control of the person it belongs to.  My personal data does not belong to Sky, so the default for this change should be "opted out" and they should be asked subscribers if they would like to "opt in".

I've emailed a complaint to Sky, I'll see what they say by return.  But I don't see how it is acceptable to sign up to something in the past and the company to simply introduce changes without asking the individual to proactively accept them - arguing that you can cancel your subscription is not a good enough argument on their part.

[TimmyBGood]

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@CorvusCoraxM32 wrote:

If they cannot assure me that my consent withdrawal is being taken seriously, then I will cancel my service, without further payment obligation, as they are changing the fabric of the terms.

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I'd observe that their lawyers may disagree.

[Mark39]

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@Chloe-W22 wrote:

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how do you opt out of sky sharing your details with all and sundry?

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If you want to opt out of sharing this data, you can unselect the Tailor my Sky iD advertising and services option in the Data & personalisation section.

You haven't commented on the plans to share address and date of birth with sky protect. 

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There will be a new section within Data & personalisation where a customer can opt out of this in October.

If you want to opt out before October, then can do so by clicking the Privacy & cookies link at the bottom of Sky.com, selecting Your Rights and then the ‘this form’ link mid-way down the page.

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@CorvusCoraxM32 

[CorvusCoraxM32]

I did that, and I mentioned that I wanted to opt-out of Social Media data sharing.

But, again, as it isn't an option when the notification was sent out, I don't trust Sky to honour it.

This has been incredibly badly handled from the get-go.

We shouldn't have to come to the forums to find a way to prevent this.

[MarkGoldsmith]

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@TimmyBGood wrote:

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@CorvusCoraxM32 wrote:

If they cannot assure me that my consent withdrawal is being taken seriously, then I will cancel my service, without further payment obligation, as they are changing the fabric of the terms.

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I'd observe that their lawyers may disagree.

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It's quite common for companies to update privacy terms, and some companies don't allow the level of customization and opt-out that Sky do. 

For some services other service providers state if you continue using the service that is you explicitly agreeing and accepting the terms and if you aren't happy with that they would let you leave your contract within a specific timeframe of being notified of the privacy policy changes.

[LeonardK]

For those not trusting links in e-mails, just go to www.sky.com website and login to your account. From there navigate to: https://www.sky.com/mydetails/data-and-personalisation 
Or follow these steps once logged in:
- 'my details' (pull down menu under your account username at top right corner)
- click the 'data & personalisation' tile

You'll have a bunch of toggles you can turn on/off. This should disable Sky sharing your data for "personalised advertisements" when they're all toggled off.

[Mqwerty]

@MarkGoldsmith @This is true for some purposes. Companies need to collect, process and sometimes share some of your personal data in order to provide you with the services you are paying for. They don't need your explicit consent to do this and the details are all contained in their privacy policies which you are assumed to have consented to when you contracted with them. As you and others have said, when these privacy policies changes they notify you and sometimes give you the option to cancel if you object to the changes.
However, this does not apply when they are using your personal data for other purposes - in this case for marketing. To use your personal data for marketing GDPR states they need your explicit consent. They cannot make this consent mandatory as a condition of subscribing to other products. They are not allowed use your personal data for marketing and refuse to let you opt out. In general this should mean that companies require you to opt into marketing - not opt you in by default and require you to spot what you are doing and opt out. However this is slightly complicated by a second piece of legislation called PECR which provides what is often referred to as soft consent. It defines a narrow set of conditions under which companies can assume you've opted into electronic marketing communications (all forms of electronic comminication). However they must tell you and still provide you with the ability to opt out. But one of the conditions of using soft consent is that the services being marketed are very similar to those you already subscribe to (or have expressed an interest in previously). I don't know if Sky will say they're relying on PECR soft consent for general marketing of media or comms products but I do not believe they can rely on it to share your personal data with Sky Protect because their services are substantially different to tv and broadband.,

I have made my complaint to Sky. I asked them:

1. what legal basis they had relied upon to assume my consent to marketing or whether they had made a mistake,

2. to specifically explain in more detail how they believe any presumption on consent on point 1 would extend to Sky protect, and

3. i  asked them to execute a deletion request for any data already shared.

I've had a call from Sky and they are in the process of listening to the telephone call made when I subscribed back in April this year to see if their agent obtained my consent to marketing in any way. I did have to be very clear what I was asking for because initially the sky agent said they didn't need my consent to personalise within the product (true but that's not what my complaint is about) she then said they needed my telephone number so engineers could notify me of their arrival time if I have a fault (also true they don't need my consent for this but again this is not what im referring to - im referring to them using my info for marketing not engineer visits). The agent has however already executed the deletion request for any data already shared so that turned out to be very easy so don't be put off making that request. The agent will also find out on what basis they believe they have the right to share my data with Sky protect without my consent (the person I spoke with thought the email we were sent was ambiguous in that regards because it implies if we don't opt out they will assume we are opted in but it doesn't explicitly state that). 

[gplanner]

I had the same email today (2.8.24) and reading the response from Chloe from Sky is alarming because it is far from reassuring.  I don't want my data share with 'advertising on social media' or 'Sky protect' but can find no way to opt out.  After 25 mins trying to  speak to Sky on the phone

(removed)

I eventually spoke to Kaif from 'Billing and Tech' (13.28 on 2.8.24) who twice said this is a scam and ti ignore it.  I'm not so sure - could someone with authority from Sky either confim this or set out how to opt out of this breach of privacy?

Moderator note: Removed phone number.

[caesarome]

@gplanner 

Try this link:

https://www.sky.com/mydetails/data-and-personalisation

[Mark39]

@gplanner a member of Sky staff has responded to this thread. It's not a scam. They also set out how to opt out.

[MarkGoldsmith]

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@Mqwerty wrote:

@MarkGoldsmith @This is true for some purposes. Companies need to collect, process and sometimes share some of your personal data in order to provide you with the services you are paying for. They don't need your explicit consent to do this and the details are all contained in their privacy policies which you are assumed to have consented to when you contracted with them. As you and others have said, when these privacy policies changes they notify you and sometimes give you the option to cancel if you object to the changes.
However, this does not apply when they are using your personal data for other purposes - in this case for marketing. To use your personal data for marketing GDPR states they need your explicit consent. They cannot make this consent mandatory as a condition of subscribing to other products. They are not allowed use your personal data for marketing and refuse to let you opt out. In general this should mean that companies require you to opt into marketing - not opt you in by default and require you to spot what you are doing and opt out. However this is slightly complicated by a second piece of legislation called PECR which provides what is often referred to as soft consent. It defines a narrow set of conditions under which companies can assume you've opted into electronic marketing communications (all forms of electronic comminication). However they must tell you and still provide you with the ability to opt out. But one of the conditions of using soft consent is that the services being marketed are very similar to those you already subscribe to (or have expressed an interest in previously). I don't know if Sky will say they're relying on PECR soft consent for general marketing of media or comms products but I do not believe they can rely on it to share your personal data with Sky Protect because their services are substantially different to tv and broadband.,

I have made my complaint to Sky. I asked them:

1. what legal basis they had relied upon to assume my consent to marketing or whether they had made a mistake,

2. to specifically explain in more detail how they believe any presumption on consent on point 1 would extend to Sky protect, and

3. i  asked them to execute a deletion request for any data already shared.

I've had a call from Sky and they are in the process of listening to the telephone call made when I subscribed back in April this year to see if their agent obtained my consent to marketing in any way. I did have to be very clear what I was asking for because initially the sky agent said they didn't need my consent to personalise within the product (true but that's not what my complaint is about) she then said they needed my telephone number so engineers could notify me of their arrival time if I have a fault (also true they don't need my consent for this but again this is not what im referring to - im referring to them using my info for marketing not engineer visits). The agent has however already executed the deletion request for any data already shared so that turned out to be very easy so don't be put off making that request. The agent will also find out on what basis they believe they have the right to share my data with Sky protect without my consent (the person I spoke with thought the email we were sent was ambiguous in that regards because it implies if we don't opt out they will assume we are opted in but it doesn't explicitly state that). 

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I've also thought the way the agents read through the T&Cs on the phone when you agree a new contract was a bit problematic. I know on this forum some customers have complained they struggle to fully understand some of the agents on the phone so I don't see why they can't instead put your order or new-contract on-hold  until they send you the T&Cs in an email so you can read them and accept them should you wish, and then the order is essentially cancelled if you don't accept the T&Cs and Privacy policy within a couple of days.