Data Removal

MissShihTzu

Hi

I had services provided to me by a business. I terminated the service, but would like the company to remove my personal details.

How would I go about this?

TIA

Atlantic Dawn

Depends on the business, some businesses like financial services and telecoms companies will be required by law to store your details for 5 or 6 years.

dreamers75

Ask them for it.

Depending on the data and the nature of the business dictates how long they have to keep it.

They can give you a copy of anything they hold but may have to hold onto details depending on the above.

IE: If it was a bank and they gave you a loan they have to keep that data for 7 years.

IE if it was communications between you only then its 1 year after end of contract. But they may have a policy thats longer or shorter.


Next year this will change but thats the gist of it.

MissShihTzu

Thanks for the responses. It wasn't a loan or anything financial. It was a domestic service that was provided. But my details were kept on the company's database.

dreamers75

MissShihTzu wrote: »

Thanks for the responses. It wasn't a loan or anything financial. It was a domestic service that was provided. But my details were kept on the company's database.

Then ask them to remove it, not sure what it was but if you paid them for something they have a data retention policy which they will gladly furnish you with.

If they dont then its a simple delete operation.

MissShihTzu

I spoke to the Data Protection Commissioner office yesterday.

It seems I can issue a demand for removal under Section 6 of the 2003 & 2008 Data Protection Act, and the supplier has 40 days to comply and advise they have done so in writing.

Thank you all for taking the time to help.

the_pen_turner

how does this work from the business side . surely they have to keep record for a set time. what would happen if they were audited

MissShihTzu

I would assume anything financial will be kept i.e. records of invoices issued and payments received. They have to be kept for at least six years. But that wasn't what I was talking about.

Senna

MissShihTzu wrote: »

Thanks for the responses. It wasn't a loan or anything financial. It was a domestic service that was provided. But my details were kept on the company's database.

If it was a service that you paid for, they can't just delete all info related to you the minute the contract ended.

What data do you want deleted? Their information on your account?

the_pen_turner

its very hard to understand what your talking about op.

MissShihTzu

I was talking about removing personal details as per OP. I spoke to the Data Commissioner's office yesterday and explained the situation to them.

Obviously, I am not going to put up all the gory details, but the advice they gave based on what I have told them, is that I can indeed issue a demand for removal under the terms of the act quoted. The supplier then has 40 days to comply.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

the_pen_turner

MissShihTzu wrote: »

I was talking about removing personal details as per OP. I spoke to the Data Commissioner's office yesterday and explained the situation to them.

Obviously, I am not going to put up all the gory details, but the advice they gave based on what I have told them, is that I can indeed issue a demand for removal under the terms of the act quoted. The supplier then has 40 days to comply.

of course your not going to give any details.
but a point towards the area would help.
i fail to see any situation where a company would have info that was not also their info. like a sales situation.

Senna

Can the company charge the person to remove the data, or is that my imagination

dreamers75

What we do and what everyone else will do is remove the OPs Name and Address from our audit able invoices and put the word redacted. We will keep record of payment for 6 years but not from who and mostly for what and how much.

We offer a service to the public that the public would want data removed from so thats what we do.

Senna wrote: »

Can the company charge the person to remove the data, or is that my imagination

Yes.