Freedom of communication 1.
The risk amendment of the Federal Data Protection Act.

17. Oktober 2008

The legislator is currently working on intensifying the Federal Data Protection Act (FDPA). First things first: The necessity to prevent the abuse of sensitive personal data of customers is undisputable.

As a member of the German Direct Marketing Association, of course we support firm acting against illegal data trading. But the measures to secure more safety should be examined carefully: Which one really helps against criminals? What is feasible? When do problems occur for the customer? When a written statement of consent is generally required to receive printed advertisment, this amendment involves great disadvantages:

Information about interesting and custom offers would be dismissed out of hand by the consumer.

Illegal use of data and respective initiatives abroad  would continue – even increase.

The amendment results in crucial economic consequences for advertisers as well as for communcation businesses.

The use of publicly accessible data is essential for most of our clients’ business models. If it got around to a generally required written statement of consent, this would not pass by the national economy without a trace. What about the consumer? Well, many people probably would not be very excited about the sudden absence of mailings, etc. Respectable direct marketing is conceived as an enrichment and a valuable source of information by most recipients.

Existing laws which already specify what is and what is not permitted should be consistently exhausted previous to an amendment. Abuse is an exception – not a rule. It would really be a tragedy if very few bad apples were able to take away the basis of existence of an entire industry!

For more information check out freiheit-der-kommunikation.de

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