Ability of an individual to withhold their personal details from the TV Licensing database.

Watchkeeper made this Freedom of Information request to British Broadcasting Corporation

The request was successful.

From: Watchkeeper

31 July 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

The BBC claims to hold data on individuals in a database kept for
TV licensing purposes. Letters from "TV Licensing" ask non-licence
holders for their names and other details so that this database can
be kept up-to-date in accordance with the Data Protection Act.

Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act begins:

"SCHEDULE 1 The data protection principles
Part I The principles

1 Personal data shall be processed fairly and lawfully and, in
particular, shall not be processed unless—

(a) at least one of the conditions in Schedule 2 is met ..."

One of the conditions in Schedule 2 referred to is:

"SCHEDULE 2 Conditions relevant for purposes of the first
principle: processing of any personal data

1 The data subject has given his consent to the processing."

In other words, a data subject must give his consent for processing
of his personal data before such processing can take place.

Can you confirm that if anyone advises the BBC that it does not
have permission to process that person's personal data for TV
licensing purposes and requests that such data as is held be
removed from the database, then the BBC will comply with such a
request?

Yours faithfully,

Watchkeeper

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Josh Walker left an annotation (31 July 2009)

I don't quite understand your request :s

Your request contains a quote from the DPA: "at least one of the conditions in Schedule 2 is met", and then it goes on to quote one of the conditions in Schedule 2: "The data subject has given his consent to the processing."

And then you make the claim: "In other words, a data subject must give his consent for processing of his personal data before such processing can take place."

I don't quite see how this claim follows from the above quotes. If a data subject does not give his consent, then if one of the other conditions in Schedule 2 is met, the processing can take place legally.

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From: FOI Enquiries
British Broadcasting Corporation

3 August 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, as detailed in your email below. Your request was
received on 31st July, 2009. We will deal with your request as promptly
as possible, and at the latest within 20 working days. If you have any
queries about your request, please contact us at the address below.

The reference number for your request is RFI20091152.

Kind regards

The Information Policy & Compliance Team

BBC Freedom of Information
Room 2252, BBC White City
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TS

www.bbc.co.uk/foi
Email: [BBC request email]

Tel: 020 8008 2882
Fax: 020 8008 2398

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From: FOI Enquiries
British Broadcasting Corporation

1 September 2009

Dear Watchkeeper,

Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to your request
made under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

We are endeavouring to provide a response as soon as possible. If we
have been unable to send a response by Friday 04 Sept 2009, we will
write again to update you on the progress of your request.

Kind regards,
BBC Information Policy and Compliance

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From: FOI Enquiries
British Broadcasting Corporation

3 September 2009

Attachment RFI20091152 final response.pdf
81K Download View as HTML

Dear Watchkeeper,

Please find attached the response to your request for information,
reference RFI20091152.

<<RFI20091152 - final response.pdf>>

Yours sincerely
Katie Paxie

BBC Information Policy and Compliance
Room 2252, White City
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TS, UK

Website: [1]www.bbc.co.uk/foi
Email: [2]mailto:[BBC request email]
Tel: 020 8008 2883
Fax: 020 8008 2398

[3]http://www.bbc.co.uk
This e-mail (and any attachments) is confidential and may contain personal
views which are not the views of the BBC unless specifically stated.
If you have received it in error, please delete it from your system.
Do not use, copy or disclose the information in any way nor act in
reliance on it and notify the sender immediately.
Please note that the BBC monitors e-mails sent or received.
Further communication will signify your consent to this.

References

Visible links
1. file://www.bbc.co.uk/foi
2. mailto:[BBC request email]
3. http://www.bbc.co.uk/

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From: Watchkeeper

3 October 2009

Dear FOI Enquiries,

Thank you for your kind reply.

In part, you said "... in order to
assist the BBC to ensure that our TV Licensing database is kept
up-to-date, to facilitate payments of TV licenses and for any other
correspondence necessary for the maintenance of licenses we will
always
request the name of an individual who we can contact directly
regarding TV licenses."

I can see the need for processing data of license holders, but are
you justified in processing data of people who do not have a
television and therefore who are not customers of the BBC and in
consequence have no need of a licence? I would take it ill if, for
example, the Environment Agency held my details and from time to
time sent me letters threatening an appearance at the magistrates
court and a fine of up to £2,500 if I did not buy a rod licence. I
do not fish! I do not have any rods! You see the parallel?

Yours sincerely,

Watchkeeper

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From: Dan McGregor
British Broadcasting Corporation

2 December 2009

Attachment LT Watchkeeper 021209.pdf
211K Download View as HTML

Dear Sir/Madam,

Please find attached a reply to your email of 3 October 2009.

Regards

Dan McGregor - Senior Policy Advisor
TV Licensing Management Team

<<LT Watchkeeper 021209.pdf>>

[1]http://www.bbc.co.uk
This e-mail (and any attachments) is confidential and may contain personal
views which are not the views of the BBC unless specifically stated.
If you have received it in error, please delete it from your system.
Do not use, copy or disclose the information in any way nor act in
reliance on it and notify the sender immediately.
Please note that the BBC monitors e-mails sent or received.
Further communication will signify your consent to this.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/

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grooks left an annotation (15 July 2011)

"Often in TVL processing, we will rely on the fact that processing is necessary for administering the TVL as set out in condition 3 (processing necessary to comply with a legal obligation)".

administrating the TVL, which means that if you as a individual have a tv set, then the bbc can demand from you relevant information, however if you do not have a tv licence then you as a individual fall outside the BBC's remit and therefor the BBC are powerless to demand information from you.

Therefor if you are not required by law the BBC should not be holding information about you other than past possession, and sudsequently the information held by them should be removed other than what they are legaly entitled to maintain.

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