Reform UK risks breaching data protection laws with its competition to win free energy bills for a year, lawyers and data experts have warned.
Nigel Farage announced the lottery on Tuesday as a way to advertise his latest policy to cut energy bills. The Reform leader encouraged British people to sign up via a website for a chance to have their energy bills paid for a year, as well as those of their entire street.
To enter the competition, however, entrants have to disclose not only their name, email and telephone number, but also how they voted at the last election and how they intend to vote at the next one – something experts warned could be unlawful.
Mariano delli Santi, legal and policy officer at Open Rights Group, a campaign for digital rights, said: “Reform are asking the public to hand over sensitive data about their voting habits without being transparent about how it will be used.”
Delli Santi said this appeared to be a clear breach of transparency obligations under UK data protection law.
He added: “Political opinions are among the most sensitive types of personal data, and voters must be able to engage in campaigns without feeling pressured to trade their privacy for the chance of material benefit. The Information Commissioner’s Office [ICO] must investigate and take a stand against political parties exploiting data in this way.”
Eleonor Duhs, a privacy barrister, said: “You have to be clear, open and honest about how and why you are collecting data and you shouldn’t be collecting more data than you need. If you say your purpose is a raffle, why are they asking for people’s voting intention? That seems to go beyond the purpose of the raffle.
“There are different categories of personal data under UK GDPR – your political opinions are given more protection than other sorts of data. There is a question mark about on what basis are they processing this data. The basis of which you can process this more sensitive data is very restrictive. I agree with the Open Rights Group.”
A second lawyer, who did not want to be named, said: “One key principle is data minimisation which means data should only be collected that is necessary for the purposes – Reform should only be collecting what they need for the purposes of the prize draw.
“The form does ask for a number of datasets beyond which might be treated as necessary, such as political parties they intend to vote for or have voted for.”
The party defended the contest. A spokesperson said: “We are entirely confident that this competition is legal. Reform UK is the only party serious about cutting energy bills.”
The party also said the raffle complied with electoral laws, which forbid bribing voters to vote a certain way at an election.
Reform announced the lottery on Tuesday as the party promised to cut energy bills if it wins the next election by removing green levies and VAT from them.
Robert Jenrick, Reform’s economic spokesperson, said: “If you give us your details on that website, in the next week or two, we’re going to draw one of those names and Nigel is going to come to your house and he’s going to pay your energy bills and those of everyone who lives on your street for an entire year.”
Farage said his cuts to green levies would mean ripping up existing contracts with green energy producers, dismissing concerns that this could deter companies from investing in Britain in the future.
“These people do not make money on their own, they only survive because of the subsidies,” he said. “We will break those contracts.”
A spokesperson for the ICO said: “All political parties collecting personal information, including information for political campaigning, need to comply with data protection law.
“People who are concerned about how their information is being used by any political party can raise those concerns with the party, and if they remain dissatisfied can make a complaint to the ICO. We’re in regular contact with political parties about how they use people’s data.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
