How many people read the fine print before they enter a competition? Many competitions have a clause similar to:
"Each entrant agrees that the Promoter may use the entry and any personal details provided to the Promoter for any promotional, marketing and publicity purposes of the Promoter in any media without notice and without any fee paid to the entrant."
"... the entrant agrees that the Promoters are reserving the right
to sell, distribute, rent, licence, disclose or reveal, share or pass
the information onto any third parties."
"... you consent for an indefinite period of time for the Promoter to contact you by telephone ..."
That is, you have given your full name, address, phone number and email contact, and in some cases your date of birth, to a promoter who can do anything they want with it. For websites we put up a privacy policy to ensure that visitors know what we will do with their information. In a world where identity theft is common and many people are struggling to maintain privacy, these competitions may just be adding you to a mailing list... or it could be something more sinister.
Is the low chance of winning an iPod Touch or family holiday in Fiji worth the risk of handing over your personal details? Or is it too late to maintain privacy and should we all not care? Should entry be restricted to adults to protect children? Are you getting telemarketing calls because someone in your household entered a competition?
We are working to protect the privacy of people visiting websites, but the same issues exist offline. It's an education issue, but perhaps there also need to be restrictions on who can enter the competitions and what can be done with their personal details.
Valerie Maxville
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