Jamaican Observer published an article on November 18th, 2020 on Marketing as we once knew it is dead.
The persistence of mobile service providers and other third parties sending unsolicited texts and/or emails to customers has raised disgust in Jamaican consumers. The matter is being flagged by legislation and can result in these service providers facing financial penalties for their behaviour.
Key points:
- Robert Morgan has echoed concerns of the public while mentioning that consumers are entitled to the protection of their data, regardless of what economic incentives or obligations a company has.
- He argued that “Why is it that you are recommending that we allow telemarketing companies to take my information and push ads to me without consent, and then put the onus on consumers, who are, in many cases, of varying abilities and competencies to navigate these clauses? If you’re going to really give people control of their data no one should be allowed to use their data without their permission.”
- Opposition spokesman on technology, Julian Robinson, agreed with the concern, insisting that consumers should be able to determine whether they should be sent these unsolicited texts and/or emails. Consumers should be able to opt into the texts and their data should not be shared or used for sending them unsolicited texts.
- The meeting concluded with Parliament passing legislation that forbids the use of personal data of a subject for direct marketing without the individual’s consent.
Reference: jamaicaobserver.com
Contributed by: Jason Jacobs from Guyana. Jason is a member of the CCST Discord group from the G5 Cyber Security Foundation Ltd. Learn more about CCST (Caribbean Cyber Support Team) by visiting caribbeancst.org. CCST is a collaborative group on the Discord platform for Caribbean people in IT, from beginners to experts.