I came across this thread when looking for advice in how to stop PayPal emails even though I don't have an account anymore. I re-registered simply to reply. The first thread is almost 3 years old. Previous replies from someone saying the "website is very complicated" and that paypal are "investigating" "looking in to it" etc is disingenuous to say the least - they onviously think everyone is stupid enough to belive it takes 3 years to change a website. At the worst, they could remedy the situation in the short term by simply purging the relevant address details. Depending on how the database is constructed they could check for addresses updated more than 6 years ago and delete them. However, paypal might have a good reason to keep the details - they share info (buy/sell) with Credit Refernce Agencies like Equifax who in turn share (hbuy/sell) to banks, mail order companies and other lenders. The more info a profile has, the more there is to cross reference. So if you change your name slightly - Tony Smith rather than Anthony Smith, or Jonathan rather than Johnathon which can sometimes happen by mistake when data is collected and entered eg Electoral Roll, then if addresses and other info is the same, they can see its actually the same person. So the more info the better. Everyone who deals in this info likes to get as much as they can and to keep it. What can you do? Well, everyone who keeps data on a person for this kind of purpose is subject to the Data Protection Act. By law, all info collected on a person must be accurate and up to date. The accepted duration is 6 years, simply because debts are valid for 6 years (5 in Scotland) after which they cannot be recovered by legal action, and it can amount to harrassment to ask for payment of a debt after that time (simple explanation). Since banks and lenders keep records for 6 years, everyone else has adopted the practice. Any information collected must be accurate and only the information actually required should be collected/stored. So, all you need to do is to write to the Data Registrar for Paypal who is a nominated emplyee with the responsibility of maintaining they personal information they collect, and tell him the info they hold is out of date. Give him the info you want removed. You may get a reply which hums and harrs about reasons why they can't change it. They may even say they don't own that info because they got it from Equifax or someone. Take no notice. Simply complain to the Information Commissioner about the retention of out of date information, and ask him to instruct Paypal to remove it. You might also want to print out these pages and say that this is a long standing problem and ask the Commisioner to prosecute paypal for deliberately breaking the Data Protection Act. You can complain to the ICO on line General advice about complaints http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/handling.aspx Forms and email and office addresses to submit complaints (don't worry very easy to do) http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/handling/complain.aspx A quick search shows that the details for Paypal held by the ICO is: Registration Number: Z2408197 Date Registered: 23 November 2010 Registration Expires: 22 November 2013 Data Controller: PAYPAL (UK) LIMITED Address: WHITTAKER AVENUE WHITTAKER AVENUE RICHMOND SURREY TW9 1EH That is the address you should write to. General advice about controlling your info is never give it to anyone who doesn't need it - surveys about your holidays etc. All the info you give is collected and sold to others so if you get junkmail, its because they bought your info from someone, and if they get info from more than one source, they are combined to build a bigger picture of you. Always opt out of any offer to send you 'special ofers of things of interest to you' or from 'specially selected partners'. You can get a copy of your credit reference file from the likes of Equifax, just do a search. There is a standard procedure and it costs about £2 and a lot of you will be surprised about the amount of info they hold on you and how much of it is out of date or just wrong. Hope that helps someone, now I will close this account and hope that paypal don't remove this post.
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