It was about 8pm on a Wednesday when “Julian from RCS Foschini Retail Group” called me at home to tell me about a “special offer”.
And here I thought only my five nearest and dearest had my unlisted home number — aside from Telkom, which installed it. But “Julian”, a young chipper-sounding guy, said he had obtained my details from Foschini’s RCS financing division.
I do not own any clothing cards, have not applied for a loan from any banking, micro-financing or other institution and do not have any hire- purchase agreements. In fact, I am debt-free!
It makes me a miserable candidate for any future bank loan — they insist on a credit history — but apparently a great customer for unscrupulous agents who feel spam e-mails and junk mail are not sufficiently intrusive marketing ploys.
Enquiries as to how my unlisted telephone number was obtained, to tout a “special offer”, resulted in the discovery that my private details could be purchased and resold without my knowledge at less than the cost of a postage stamp.
Everyone — from retail and marketing companies to database compilers — feigned surprise that my private details had been obtained by a tout, even though I have no clothing accounts or loan agreements. And every manager I spoke to was amazed that I was complaining. Apparently I was the first to object to my private details being used in this way.
I knew it couldn’t have been my bank that had given out my details, because it only has my work and cellphone numbers. Incidentally, I also signed a form prohibiting my bank from giving out my details. Depending on who you bank with, you may have to request the form.
In this grey area of the law, many accuse Telkom of selling customer information — more out of suspicion than proof. Of course, Telkom claims it does not sell customer details, it places the blame on database traffickers. But it does supply reams of information to credit bureaus.
Who checks out details at the credit bureaus? Well, those companies that compile databases.
Telkom insists it has “a policy not to give out any customer details”. “Everyone at Telkom knows that,” said a Telkom official.
Unlike the United States, no strict privacy laws exist in South Africa and codes of conduct are simply not legally enforceable.
According to an Ernst & Young survey published on the Biz-Community website in May this year, 77% of South African consumers feel companies send them too much unsolicited advertising material and 74% say this bothers them. Sixty-five percent believe “too many companies call consumers at their homes”.
About 89% of respondents say “there should be legislation to prevent companies from sharing their information with others without their permission”. And 94% want privacy legislation to prevent unsolicited advertising.
The government has started a process that will allow the minister of communications to declare certain private databases as critical. This means that those databases can be protected by stringent rules about what can be done with the information they contain. This power was obtained under the controversial 2002 Electronic Communications and Transactions Act.
An inventory of all private databases is being compiled by a set of consultants who this week began contacting organisations and companies.
The South African Law Commission is currently investigating privacy and data protection issues and whether these should be regulated by legislation. From “medical records, purchasing habits and property ownership to borrowing habits at the video store, cellphone conversations and surfing practices on the Internet … It is clear that personal information has acquired a market value,” the commission said in a statement. It is calling for public comments by December 1.
To cut a long story short, I was told to phone RCS Personal Finance — a subdivision of RCS Financing — directly and was also given the names of two “service providers”: Direct Channel Marketing and Effective Intelligence.
Incidentally, an Internet search revealed RCS Personal Finance, or rather its advertising company, won an Assegai award in August 2002 for advertising its “re-advance loan package”.
On its website Effective Intelligence proclaims its “mission is to revolutionise the market in providing data solutions”, compiled through “many public and private sources”. It offers “3,4-million verified names and addresses of economically active consumers”, some with telephone numbers.
However, RCS Personal Finance finally admitted that they got my name from a third company, ListsSA.
Check out their website at www.listsa.co.za. For R580 for a 1 000 names you can rent “basic selectors” — age, income, gender. An additional R500 gets you telephone numbers and another R200 identity numbers. On its retail prospect database it costs R620 for a 1 000 names and basic selectors.
That means my details cost R1,08, or R1,28 with my identity number, on the cheaper database; R1,12 or R1,32, on the more expensive option. A stamp costs R1,65!
ListsSA’s parent company is a member of the Direct Marketing Association. Thus it subscribes to the association’s code of con- duct, which states that “sales and marketing calls shall not knowingly be made to unlisted or ex-directory numbers”.
Not having found any other consumer body, I thought I would take up the association on its offer to remove an individual from all databases of their members. But to do so, I need to fill in a form with all my details!