Do-Not-Call registry does the trick

Seven in 10 consumers polled say they have been getting fewer unwanted marketing messages since the launch of the Do Not Call Registry in January.

The poll of 1,000 consumers was carried out in March by the Personal Data Protection Commission, which administers the registry.

So far, more than 600,000 phone numbers have been listed on the registry.

More than three-quarters of the consumers who had their numbers listed have blocked all calls, text messages and faxes. The rest have blocked one or two of these.

The commission has clarified that a minor has to be at least 13 years old to be able to give consent for the use of his or her personal data for marketing purposes.

This came after a public consultation exercise conducted earlier this year.

New rules that have come out of the exercise "will facilitate legitimate and reasonable use of personal data by businesses, enhance Singapore's position for data management activities, and at the same time protect individuals against misuse and unauthorised disclosure of their data," said Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Communications and Information.

He was speaking at a data protection seminar yesterday, The Straits Times reported.

More proposed guidelines targeted at the education, social services and health care sectors have been put up for public consultation on the commission's website.

They are part of a series of guidelines for different sectors that the commission is expected to issue over the next few months.

These guidelines are expected to help companies comply with the Personal Data Protection Act.

The current set of guidelines aims to provide more clarity on matters such as the collection of personal data from patients seeking medical care, and the use of students' personal data for admission to schools as well as the timely provision of social services.

The consultation will close on June 6.

This article was published on May 17 in The New Paper.

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