Forum Topic

Electoral Roll

You have to tick a box if you don't want the Council to sell your name for marketeers.Do we have to do this each year?

George Knox ● 5346d6 Comments

It would be better practice if you had to opt in rather than opt out. You can register to vote once you are 16. Do we want non adults to be sent a lot of junk mail?

George Knox ● 5346d

I sometimes wonder if Ealing Council is in breach of the law. I thought you had to opt in, rather than opt out.No, but you do have to be given the option.

Nigel Brooks ● 5346d

Well, I just went online to register and once again the default is to uncheck the opt-out box, regardless of the previous preference setting. Of course this time, I checked it before submitting the information!George, thanks for the links. I registered with the telephone preference service years ago and it did almost eliminate cold calls. There have been a handful since then, usually of the type where the caller hangs up after I ask where they got my telephone number as they know they're breaking the law. I've had a couple this year offering to help me claim after my accident. They even argued with me when I told them I had not had, or reported, any such accident.The telephone preference service covers mobiles too, by the way, but only calls, not spam texts.I'll register for the postal preference too.

M. Duley ● 5346d

For what it is worth you can register to stop unsolicited mailhttp://www.mpsonline.org.uk/mpsr/Unsolicited calls from the UKhttp://www.mpsonline.org.uk/tps/index.htmlUnsolicited faxeshttp://www.fpsonline.org.uk/fps/As far as I know these are "proper" websites. Don't know how you stop unsolicited call to mobiles. I don't get junk mail and very few UK calls.I sometimes wonder if Ealing Council is in breach of the law. I thought you had to opt in, rather than opt out.

George Knox ● 5346d

If you renew by phone, as I do, the default is to stick with your existing choice; unclear why the online version is any different!

Susan Kelly ● 5346d

The form that dropped through my letterbox this morning has an opt out option on it.You can also register online, which is how I normally do it. Take special care if you do it online. The last time I did it I noticed a split second too late - the moment I hit the "submit" button - that despite ALWAYS opting out in the past, the online form defaults to opt-in. As a result I almost immediately started receiving junk mail that I was happily free from for many years previously.Not long later I phoned Ealing and had my name removed, but by that time I suppose numerous firms had bought the details. I get junk mail from Virgin for their TV/broadband services about twice a week now, along with a bunch of other garbage that gets shredded. I suppose they'll continue to send stuff forever now they've got details, even if they've subsequently been removed from the edited register.

M. Duley ● 5346d