The curious things VM does with your data

[Anonymous]

An occasional series. Contributions welcome.

Inspirired by the richly creative VM "privacy" policy. 

[Anonymous]

VM may collect and use information about your health in order to "support public health situations and protect the health and wellbeing of its customers and employees".

It does not hint at how it does this. 

[Anonymous]

VM collect information about you from audio files if you use the voice search functionality on your Virgin Media apps.

It doesn't say whether or how this is retained or how it is analysed. 

[Anonymous]

VM collects information about you from other people or organisations including lettings and estate agents who collect prospect data that’s passed on to Virgin Media.

No company names are given. 

[Anonymous]

VM "work with" Sky to enable their AdSmart service via VM TV boxes.

That's as far as they go and direct any further queries to Sky. 

Nuffink to do with us guv etc. 

[Anonymous]

VM use automated AI to process your personal information.

It acquires data from third parties to inform and develop marketing profiles about you.

Two of the more curious third parties are listed below with information about how you can contact them to exercise your information rights:

CACI – to be removed from CACI’s general register visit:https://www.caci.co.uk/data-privacy/consumer-information/

ZEOTAP – For more about ZEOTAP, visit:https://zeotap.com/product-privacy-policy/

[Anonymous]

VM processes details of your personal information that include a combination of name, address, date of birth, contact details, financial information, employment details and device identifiers including IP address for supposedly anti fraud purposes. 

[Anonymous]

VM are happy to lump you in with your other half as you are, in their eyes, probably as bad as each other fraud wise. 

So if you tell VM that you’re associated with someone else financially (for example, by marriage or civil partnership), they’ll link your records together. So you must make sure you have their agreement to share information about them. The credit agencies they share the information with also link your records together and these links will stay on your and their files – unless you or your partner successfully asks the agency to break that link.

Some of us are looking to break our link with VM but moving on... 

[Anonymous]

To enable tailored ads, VM sell your data to data services companies who categorise its customers (by household and set top box ID) into marketing interest categories.

[Anonymous]

When VM uses social media and other advertising partners for marketing purposes, your information will be shared so that they can

check if you hold an account with them to enable VM to show you targeted ads

but also to identify your marketing doppelganger by identifying people that have similar interests as yours (known as lookalike audiences), to target those other people with VM sales tripe.

But this is all apparently fine as VM advertising partners can only use the information if you already hold an account with them.