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December 12, 2007You better watch out...
The Register - Santa putting children's information at risk, warn experts: Santa Claus could be breaking privacy laws in his collection and use of data about British children, experts have warned. Yuletide cheer-bringer Claus could be putting the personal data of millions of children at risk. Data protection laws lay down strict conditions for the use of personal data and there is no evidence that Claus has an adequate compliance programme in place. Children across Britain who write letters to Claus with a list of gift requests are not told for how long that data is kept, or if it will be used for other purposes such as marketing by third parties.
Right on! This just happens to be one of the primary concerns that will be raised during the anti-Christmas carol service on the 20th.
Not only is Santa Claus a corporate shill and willing tool of the US military-industrial complex, but he has a disgracefully lax approach to child data. (Just one example of this is the Hoth Battle Set that was specifically requested in 1981, but never arrived.)
Here's the song we'll be singing about that next week:
Santa Claus is Coming to Town!Oh! You better watch out,
You better not plot,
You better suppress bad thoughts that you've got
Santa Claus is coming to town!He's making a list,
Misplacing it twice,
And now you can buy that list at a price
Santa Claus is coming to town!He sees you when you're sleeping,
But maybe that's OK
'Cos since he lost my bank details
I don't sleep much anywayOh! You better watch out,
You better not plot,
You better suppress bad thoughts that you've got
Santa Claus is coming to town.
These and other lyrics are currently available on the song sheet that you can get your hands on - via the main carols page - with a paltry £2 donation (all proceeds going to Medical Aid for Iraqi Children).
Posted by Manic on December 12, 2007 2:40 PM in the category The War on Stupid
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Comments
Don't worry - my brother got a Hoth Battle Set back in the day. It was rubbish.
Posted by: Justin McKeating at December 12, 2007 5:28 PM
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Nevertheless, the wish to have one delivered was clearly communicated to a store-based agent, and this data was not handled/delivered with due care.
Posted by: Manic at December 12, 2007 6:28 PM
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