Respecting Personal Data

Remember lastminute.com? How is this for their last word on personal data?

What’s wrong with the following e-mail I received from @lastminute_com today?

“Dear Customer
Important information about your personal data
With effect from today, the lastminute.com business has been acquired by Bravofly Rumbo Group. As a result, your personal data has been transferred to LMnext UK Ltd (a member of the Bravofly Rumbo Group) registered in England and Wales with company registration number 9399258.

Your personal data will continue to be processed in accordance with the lastminute.com privacy policy that you agreed to when signing up to lastminute.com newsletters or when making a booking.

LMnext UK Ltd is committed to respect the confidentiality of your personal data and will process it fairly and lawfully and in accordance with applicable data protection law.

You are also reminded that you may exercise your rights of access, rectification or removal of your personal data from our database at any time by sending a written request to lastminute.com, Dukes Court, Duke Street, Woking, Surrey, GU21 5BH providing a copy of your ID.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any queries

Yours faithfully
The team at lastminute.com and Bravofly Rumbo Group”
I assume that they know my name, since they are holding my personal data, but they can’t rise to a mail-merge process for customer relationship?

More irritatingly, they demand a physical instruction with a scan of my ID for a removal. Why? Is it because there is more interesting data about me to be scraped from said ID? Or is it just to discourage me from asking?

So, no I won’t be asking for removal from their database. Nor will I ever do business with them or any company to whom they pass my data. This e-mail is symptomatic of the lack of respect in which many companies hold our personal data. In itself, it not a big deal. But, taken in a broader context, it epitomises the old adage: caveat emptor or even caveat scriptor!