Email: Privacy

(asked on 19th February 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect on consumer privacy expectations of the use of tracking beacons in emails.


Answered by
John Whittingdale Portrait
John Whittingdale
This question was answered on 25th February 2021

All organisations in the UK that process personal information must comply with the requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA). In addition, organisations are also regulated by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR), which gives individuals specific privacy rights in relation to electronic communications. This includes communications that use cookies, tracking pixels, or similar technologies, to track information about people accessing a website or other electronic services.

The PECR requires organisations to give people clear and comprehensive information about the use of tracking technologies and give people a choice on whether or not they are applied on their devices.

The ICO has produced guidance for organisations on the use of tracking technologies, available on its website at:

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-pecr/guidance-on-the-use-of-cookies-and-similar-technologies/what-are-cookies-and-similar-technologies/#cookies5

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