Category: Fight Back

ICO Protect Children’s Privacy

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) published the Age Appropriate Design Code – a set of 15 standards that online services should meet to protect children’s privacy.

The code sets out the standards expected of those responsible for designing, developing or providing online services like apps, connected toys, social media platforms, online games, educational websites and streaming services. It covers services likely to be accessed by children.

The code requires digital services to automatically provide children with a built-in baseline of data protection whenever they download a new app, game or visit a website.

That means

  • Privacy settings should be set to high by default.
  • Location settings that allow the world to see where a child is, should also be switched off by default.
  • Data collection and sharing should be minimised
  • Profiling that can allow children to be served up targeted content should be switched off by default.

The code standard is based on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the code was introduced by the Data Protection Act 2018. Organisations will have 12 months to update their practices before the code comes into full effect which is expected to be by autumn 2021.

The code is the first of its kind, but it reflects the global direction of travel with similar reform being considered in the USA, Europe and globally by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The regulator has powers to take action against organisations that break the law including tough sanctions like orders to stop processing data and fines of up to £17 million or 4% of global turnover.

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Call Blocking Services

BT Call Protect is BT’s free service to help their users block out the scam callers, cold callers and other undesirables.

Nuisance calls take many forms – they can be malicious calls, unsolicited sales propositions, scams or simply someone dialling the wrong number.

Getting nuisance calls at home can be intrusive, may disturb your home life and, when they happen repeatedly, can be upsetting.

For BT home phone customers, BT Call Protect is free and works in three ways:

  1. BT blacklist: Numbers identified as nuisance callers by BT’s experts are added to a BT blacklist and sent automatically to your junk voicemail.
  2. Personal blacklist: If you get an unwanted call you can add the number to your Personal blacklist. All future calls from that number will be sent to your junk voicemail.
  3. Individual call types: Send calls from specific categories (such as withheld or international) straight to your junk voicemail.

Plusnet offers its own Call Protect service free of charge – you call 1572 to set it up.

Sky offer Talk Shield and you access it by calling 1783 – this makes callers identify themselves and then you decide if you want to take the call or not.

TalkTalk have their free Callsafe service – dial 1472

Virgin offer a free Anonymous Caller Rejection service but advise customers to invest in APPS or devices that block unwanted calls.

If your phone supplier is not on this list and you want a call blocking service then contact your supplier and see what is possible.

If they don’t have any such services, then you may want to buy a box to plug into your phone line that can provide the call blocking service.

https://fightback.ninja/telephones-that-can-block-unwanted-callers/

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Dixons Fined for Data Breach

Dixons Carphone has been fined £500,000 by the data watchdog over a computer hack which compromised the personal information of at least 14 million people.

The Information Commissioner’s Office found that hackers were able to access the names, postcodes, email addresses and failed credit checks of millions of people.

The data also included the details of 5.6 million payment cards used between July 2017 and April 2018.

Dixons Carphone says it has no confirmed evidence of any customers suffering fraud or financial loss as a result of the hack.

What Should Business Do to Protect Itself?

  1. Invest in expert cyber security and keep it up to date
  2. Maintain all computer devices with anti-virus and anti-malware and keep that up to date
  3. Regularly check all financial accounts. If you spot anything unusual, contact your provider immediately.
  4. Train staff on security procedures e.g. how to spot phishing attempts
  5. Stay up to date with protection against latest threats
  6. Remember that human beings are usually the weakest link in security.

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Finding Trustworthy Local Tradesmen

Most homeowners have faced the problem of needing a tradesman – e.g. a plumber, carpenter, decorator and so on.

How do you make sure the person or company you choose is going to be trustworthy and do a good job.?

That’s not easy.

In recent years various websites have appeared that include ratings on tradesmen and these are very useful as a way to see customers opinions and experience employing the tradesmen. This is very different to official assessments.

Trustmark (www.trustmark.org.uk)

TrustMark is a Government endorsed scheme for trades in and around the home. They award registered firms with accreditation after vetting and on-site inspections to ensure the firm is raising industry standards and this accreditation gives customers reassurance of quality and protection from rogue traders.

TrustMark is a ‘not for profit’ social enterprise and says it seeks to continually improve and welcomes constructive engagement on how improvements and enhancements can be achieved.

The site is free to use and designed to help you to find tradesmen based on entering a postcode and selecting a trade. It does cost for transmen to get registered so not everyone does.

Trading Standards

The government website at www.gov.uk/find-local-trading-standards-office will help you to find your local trading standards web pages and office.

You will find multiple schemes that can provide information on local tradesmen.

Checkatrade, Which? Trusted Trader and Others

These websites also provide a wealth of information and reviews on prospective tradesmen.

Find a Trade Association

There are generally multiple such trade associations for any trade you select and they can also offer advice and reviews of tradesmen in your area.

There’s a lot of information on the Internet so don’t pick a tradesman without checking first.

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118 Directory Charges Capped

In the days when only BT ran a directory enquiry service i.e. to look up phone numbers for you, it was free for a long time then people complained when a modest charge was introduced by BT.

Then the government opened it up to anyone and instead of competition driving down the price – the price went up and the tricks played by the new 118 firms (i.e. directory lookup services) led almost everyone to distrust the various 118 services and the adverts on TV didn’t help as they were designed to be memorable i.e. very annoying.

The charges for the most popular 118 services for a 60 second lookup call reached ridiculous levels e.g.

  • 118 004 (Telecom2) £15.98
  • 118 118 (TNUK) £8.98
  • 118 212 (Maureen) £8.98

Whereas BT and the Post Office maintained more reasonable pricing

  • 118 500 (BT) £2.32
  • 118 555 (Post Office) £1.00

Some of the mobile phone providers offer free directory lookups for their customers.

BT also operates the free 195 directory enquiries number for people with disabilities. To sign up you call 0800 587 0195 to get the relevant form, that needs to be countersigned by a GP.

In 2018, the regulator got fed up with the rip-off prices and created a cap that took effect on 1st April 2019, bringing the charges back to 2012 levels. This meant a 90 second call would cost at most £3.65

Well done the regulator. Sometimes the free market fails to work properly and needs to be fixed.

Some of the services offer to connect you to the number you want, but beware – they make continue to charge you a premium rate per minute while you are connected to that number.

If possible, use Internet lookup to get phone numbers for free and always dial the number yourself to avoid additional charges.

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How to Reclaim Your Identity

There are criminals intent on stealing your identity so they can take-over your accounts, open new accounts in your name, take out loans etc. and everything in your name which means you can be prosecuted by any retailers or other organisations if you don’t pay the bills.

If you find your bank account has been emptied or you are locked out of your accounts or strange charges appear on your mobile phone or calls you get from debt collectors about loans you haven’t taken out,  then you may have had your identity stolen.

Recovering your identity after it’s been stolen can be difficult and stressful.  It is important that you take action immediately as that gives the best chance of stopping the criminal and recovering any money stolen.

  1. Contact the police to report the fraud and get a crime number which is needed for any insurance claims.

You can call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or make a report on their web site at actionfraud.police.uk. which also offers advice for victims of identity theft.

  1. If you have reason to think that criminals have accessed your credit card account or bank account then contact your supplier immediate.
  2. If you receive a letter from a debt collector or bailiff, this could mean someone has already been borrowing money in your name. You should contact them to explain the situation and not simply ignore the letters or calls.
  3. If you receive a court summons for non-payment of a bill, then contact the company or court straight away to explain what you think has happened. If you don’t take action right away, it could become very difficult to resolve the issue.
  4. Check your credit report. If you have reason to think that criminals have stolen your personal information, you should check your credit report for signs of unusual activity. This will show if criminals have tried to apply for credit in your name. You can get your credit report from one of the ratings agencies e.g. Experian or Equifax for a couple of pounds.
  5. Consider registering on the Cifas Protective Register. This register tells finance providers to be very careful over any changes to your accounts. They will insist on extra security checks to protect you. This can be beneficial for peace of mind but also makes it difficult for you to make any changes.

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