Privacy notices and information and transparency

[Newambient]

I have just had an email from Sky saying that their privacy notice is changing. They go on to say they will now share my phone number, email, and name and address on social media depending on my communication preferences . There is a blue link to communication prefences but I am not using it in case the email is a scam. I do not want sky to share any of my contact information on social media. How precisely do I stop this . I have logged into my account but cannot see how I would do this and would appreciate advise.

[TimmyBGood]

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@Newambient wrote:

They go on to say they will now share my phone number, email, and name and address on social media depending on my communication preferences . 

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I think that may be a misunderstanding: no company puts customer information like that on social media (irrespective of what the customer themselves may be willing to consent to) as it would frankly be an incredibly bad idea. 

If it is a legitimate Sky email then I suspect it's more likely to be related to sharing such data with business partners though: that does happen between Sky and Domestic & General for 'Sky Protect' insurance purposes, for example.

[Newambient]

Thanks for your reply. I have unhighlighted TV & Sky ID advertising in my details. Hope that will do the trick.  Here is more of the text-

Here’s what’s changing

Advertising on social media
Today, depending on your communication preferences, we may share your phone number and email address with social media platforms, so Sky ads on those platforms can be personalised to you. To improve this personalisation, name and address information will also be shared with these platforms from now on. All information will be in a hashed format (meaning it’s converted into a string of numbers or letters to make it more secure), and the social media platform will only see data that matches an account already on its platform.

[TimmyBGood]

@Newambient 

Ah, so that's a form of data exchange with a social media platform owner rather than displaying any such information 'on social media', and is pattern matching so each business can attempt to identify when users have an existence on both systems for more precisely targeted advertising.  The recipient doesn't actually see the inbound personal details in clear text themselves: that would not be permitted in most data handling regulatory environments.

Still not something I'd choose to consent to though ; )

[caesarome]

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@Newambient wrote:

I have logged into my account but cannot see how I would do this and would appreciate advise.

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@Newambient 

Try this link:

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

[Mqwerty]

I also received this email. It's very concerning. They're reducing privacy in three ways. First of all they're going to start using your mobile number to send you marketing via WhatsApp, secondly they will share your info with social media platforms (yes it's hashed blah blah but it's still not good) and most worrying of all they intend to share your name address and date of birth with Sky Protect so they can send you unsolicited marketing deals. In a world where personal info is constantly being hacked I think it's highly irresponsible for Sky to send such sensitive info to other parts of their group or third parties just to sell you products you didn't ask about. I am also concerned that contrary to GDPR they are presuming consent. You can't even opt out of the Sky protect data sharing until October because they haven't developed the capability to do it yet. I have to say this is shockingly poor privacy from Sky who seem to be placing their marketing above customer privacy and I think they're non compliant with GDPR. I have logged a complaint and next step will be the ICO. I would urge others to opt out of every marketing option under customer communications and also lodge a complaint. I would also suggest a general introduction to their data protection officer to cease all consent for any collection, storage, processing, sharing or profiling of your data for any purposes other than those required for them to provide you the services you are currently subscribed to. 

[Philplu]

I, too, received this email and am concerned and annoyed. It seems that businesses are no longer satisfied with offering and delivering a service, but need to also milk their customers for every penny that can be squeezed out of them.
It is totally unreasonable that a company can unilaterally change their privacy policy mid-contract and redefine their data sharing in this way.
I took up Sky to provision television and streaming services and am not interested at all in third party advertising or insurance products. If I wanted these things I would search for them as required.
As well as the presumed consent, my Sky account seems to be unavailable because of system updates and the insurance intrusion cannot be addressed because they have not yet enabled the relevant preferences. This will ensure that many people will just forget about it and it will happen by default.
After 17 years with Sky, I am seriously re-evaluating my media needs and looking for alternative solutions.

[mistabtb]

It's a fake email. There is a link giving you the options to update your communication preferences. 

[Mqwerty]

It’s not fake. It comes from the sky domain and includes info that no one else would have. Sky has confirmed they sent it. 

[TimmyBGood]

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@Mqwerty wrote:

 most worrying of all they intend to share your name address and date of birth with Sky Protect so they can send you unsolicited marketing deals. 

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I'd observe Sky UK Ltd has been a introducer appointed representative of Domestic & General Insurance PLC regarding Sky Protect Device Insurance for decades.

[Mqwerty]

They should have changed their approach once GDPR was enacted into law in 2018. From that point they should no longer share information for marketing purposes without consent and that consent requires some form of affirmative action - it cannot be presumed. Using the most common example of how this is typically done - a box consenting to it must be ticked by the customer, they should not pre tick it and require you to find it and untick it. 

[TimmyBGood]

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@Mqwerty wrote:

They should have changed their approach once GDPR was enacted into law in 2018. 

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Consent is given when a contract is accepted, because the customer is expected to have read the T&C's.  What Sky declares it does with customer data is defined in tedious detail in the 'Information we collect and how we use it ' section here:

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/privacy-hub-privacy 

Do you really think Sky Group (a multi-billion dollar division of the Comcast Corporation) doesn't employ one or two DPA/GDPR lawyers who are reasonably confident of their compliance with all current requirements?

[Mqwerty]

Consent can't be presumed from general terms and conditions. I'm sure Sky has data protection lawyers. But so did Flybe and Honda yet they still got fined by the ICO. Read article 4. 

[TimmyBGood]

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@Mqwerty wrote:

Consent can't be presumed from general terms and conditions. 

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Those are very specific data processing declarations, the existence of which is referred to in the T&Cs: that's the whole point of such things.  Consent to the specified processing is gained from the customer accepting the contract because otherwise normal line-of-business operations would be impossible.

[TimmyBGood]

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@Mqwerty wrote:

But so did Flybe and Honda yet they still got fined by the ICO. 

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Certainly, but for breach of email marketing regulation.