Standard Bank will spam you
I mentioned some of the issues associated with spam in South Africa in a previous post. Cowboys and Engines has a post about Standard Bank’s stated intention to continue sending emails to people who have unsubscribed from their mailing lists. If you are a Standard Bank client then you may have received the following email:
The problem with this is that the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act requires that where commercial emails are unsolicited, they must provide for an opt out mechanism and if the company still sends those emails to the people who have opted out and who subsequently informed the company that the emails are not wanted, then that company commits an offence in terms of the Act.
So if you are one of those clients who opted out of receiving emails from the bank, have informed the bank that continued emails are unwanted and are still receiving those emails then the bank is acting in violation of the Act. While I can appreciate the bank’s desire to protect its clients, it must realise that persisting with its emails to people who don’t want to receive them, it runs the risk of being prosecuted under the Act.
Of course this raises another issue. Standard Bank provides a service to its clients in the form of Internet banking. You assume certain risks when you use Internet banking and these include attempts to intercept your communications with the Internet banking site with a view to stealing your funds as well as possible identity theft. Standard Bank, in addition to other banks, make an effort to communicate these risks to their clients and advise their clients how to avoid being compromised. This is not just good customer service but also what you would expect from a bank providing this sort of service.
I imagine that one of the concerns that motivated this email from Standard Bank is the concern that if the bank allows clients to opt out of future security updates then it may be found to be negligent if a client is compromised and where that client may not have been compromised had the client received the security advisory. I suspect that a properly worded indemnity that a client opting out of emails from the bank be required to agree to may address this concern.
The guys at Cowboys and Engines have emailed the Standard Bank security team for their views and I am interested in what they will say, if they respond.
Tags: standard bank, email, unsolicited, spam, electronic communications and transactions act, ect act, opt out, commercial messages, security advisories
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