Was interested to see the following from the BBC. I'm liberally quoting here.
"Eleven charities have been fined by the UK's data watchdog for misusing information about millions of past donors to seek further funds.
...
The Information Commissioner's Office said offences included secretly piecing together data from various sources and trading personal details to target new and lapsed donors.
The regulator said that some of the charities had hired companies to profile the wealth of their donors. It said this was done by investigating their incomes, lifestyles, property values and friendship circles among other means.
In some cases, the "wealth screening" process was also used to flag those most likely to be convinced to leave money in their wills.
In addition, some of the charities shared data with each other without seeking permission.
The Information Commissioner's Office carried out the probe after reports that charity supporters were being pressured into follow-up donations.
The Charity Commission for England and Wales - another regulator - said it was now investigating whether follow-on action needed to be taken against individual trustees.
You might think that fining charities for being a bit too eager to solicit donations is rather unfair. But make no mistake, the kind of offences that the Information Commissioner uncovered are seen by the regulator as very serious breaches of the Data Protection Act.
One of those fined, the NSPCC, said it was disappointed by what it regards as an unjustified punishment.
But the Information Commissioner hopes that charities will now be aware that they have to be just as careful with personal data as any business."
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39502258
If you are in the UK how do you feel about this?
For folks in other countries, like the US where these practices seem to be common place. What do you think about laws like these?
--Tom
Wow, this seems a little wild since, as you mentioned, these practices are very common in the US. Europe has such stringent data protection laws though, so I suppose it's less prevalent there. I used to work for a UK-based charity, and they didn't make the list but some of their partner organzations (IFAW) did.
This line especially stuck out to me: "The Information Commissioner's Office carried out the probe after reports that charity supporters were being pressured into follow-up donations." So....charities are not supposed to engage in fundraising among their constituents at all? The article makes it sound so evil, but that's the most standard practice in engagement! Build a pool of regular donors and then ask them for money!