Stop Junk Mail

The Science of Junk Busting

Guide to Stamping Out Junk Mail

Contact the sender

The Data Protection Act 1998 gives you the right to ask any UK organisation to stop 'processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes'. This makes contacting individual junk mailers a very effective way of stopping junk mail.

All items listed in the Guide to Stamping Out Junk Mail have something in common: they aren't as effective as they could be. The one exception are 'data protection notices'. Any personally addressed junk mail from any organisation in the UK can be stopped with such a notice.

The basics

A data protection notice is a request to stop using your personal details for 'direct marketing purposes', made with reference to section 11 of the Data Protection Act. It's a legally binding demand to stop (or not begin) sending you junk mail. Organisations that ignore a data protection notice can be referred to the Information Commissioner's Office (the body enforcing the Data Protection Act).

The only downside of stopping junk mail using data protection notices is that it's a rather time consuming approach; you need to contact senders one by one, and keep track of who you've contacted and when. As a last resort, however, data protection notices are extremely useful. If you're constantly being sent junk mail by an organisation you can force them to stop. The Data Protection Act gives you a clear right not to receive junk mail and a tool to enforce it.

The details

Issuing data protection notice is a rather formal affair, and your notice therefore needs to follow a number of guidelines set out by the Information Commissioner’s Office:

Example data protection notice

The Information Commissioner's Office suggests you write your notice as follows:

[ Your full name ]
[ Your full address ]

[ Today's date ]

Data Controller / Company Secretary
[ Organisation's full address ]

Dear Sir or Madam,

Notice under the Data Protection Act 1998 not to use my personal information for direct marketing.

I, [ your full name ] of [ your full address ] require you to [ stop / not to begin ] processing personal information relating to me for direct marketing as soon as possible and in any event within 28 days of the date of this [ letter / e-mail ].

If you do not normally handle these requests for your organisation, please pass this [ letter / e-mail ] to your Data Protection Officer or the person who does.

Please note that if you do not comply with this notice, I can apply to the court for an order against you under Section 11 of the Data Protection Act.

Yours faithfully,

[ Your name ]

Only the elements between square brackets and printed in red need to be customised. Note that it's perfectly alright to send a data protection notice via e-mail. In fact, I recommend you send your notice via e-mail as you'll automatically have a copy of your notice and proof of posting.

After you've sent your notice

It's important to keep a copy of both the junk mail you've received and the notice you've sent. You'll need them should the organisation fail to comply and should you wish to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office. More information about how to make a complaint can be found on the website of the Information Commissioner's Office:

Alternatively, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office on 0303 123 1113. I've contacted them on several occasions myself an have always found them very helpful (which seems rare nowadays).

Thought for the day

Stop Junk Mail is not just about giving information on stopping junk mail. There are many things that could be done to make reducing unsolicited mail easier (as I hope this guide demonstrates) and one of the aims of this website is to highlight those things.

If you'd ask me why reducing junk mail is unnecessarily complicated my answer would: industry self-regulation. Opt-out schemes such as the Mailing Preference Service are run by junk mailers. Consumer groups don't have a say in how the Mailing Preference Service functions, which is why the scheme is only half-effective.

The reason why data protection notices are effective is this: they're not part of the junk mail industry's self-regulatory framework. Instead they're covered by an Act of Parliament (the Data Protection Act). Voluntary industry scheme will always be just that; voluntary.

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