Unwanted telephone calls, both landline and mobiles, register with the
Telephone Preference Service
http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/ctps/number_type.html
Unwanted direct mail, register with the Mail Preference Service
http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/mpsr/mps_choosetype.html
I have been registered with both of these for a few years now, no
unsolicited telephone calls at all now, hardly any unsolicited direct
mail,
and not had a credit card application since I registered.
<Martin wrote>
Only works for companies buying your information.
When you freely supply it to a company yourself, you give permission
for that company to have your details and contact you.
</Martin wrote>
Not if you carefully check, and tick, any boxes to exclude that permission
when filling in your personal details, and even if you do forget to do this,
all you have to do is inform them when they do call you, not to call you
again, then, as far as I am aware, this becomes a legal requirement under
the Data Protection Act. This should also apply to other unsolicited calls,
even if you are not registered with the TPS.
It is, in my opinion, time that the TPS was no longer needed, and the
acceptance of unsolicited phone calls should be made opt in instead of opt
out. The last time I checked, (which was a couple of years ago), there were
several million numbers registered, and that number was growing very
rapidly, how much proof do they need that the vast majority of people do not
want unsolicited calls?
)