Reports and complaints about data protection nearly double in one year

PARCA eNews – July 9, 2019 – Helpline and written advice services topped 471,224 contacts in 2018-19 according to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), that compared to 283,272 contacts the year before, a 66 percent increase. Data protection complaints filed with the ICO more than doubled up from 21,019 in 2017-18 to 41,661 in the current reporting period.

“The biggest moment of the year was the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into force," said Elizabeth Denham, Information Commissioner in a press release. "This saw people wake up to the potential of their personal data, leading to greater awareness of the role of the regulator when their data rights aren’t being respected. The doubling of concerns raised with our office reflects that.”

The ICO’s annual report showed that more people are taking a more active role in protecting their data privacy, in part due to an active public information campaign undertaken by the ICO and other agencies in the EU.

In addition, unlike the US, the ICO has launched formal investigation into the use of data analytics for political purposes. The investigators are looking into how such analytics were used to target political advertising during the 2016 EU referendum commonly referred to as Brexit. The investigation has broadened to become the largest investigation of its type by any data protection authority in the world.

Source: ICO News: ICO publishes annual report covering an ‘unprecedented’ year