Online tool helps public find out how data is being used by Fintech companies

• Data Rights Finder will make it easier for people to request, change and delete the data that companies hold about them.
• The free tool features over 30 fintech companies including Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland.
• It’s one of the first online tools designed to help the British public exercise their GDPR rights.

Open Rights Group (ORG) and IF (projectsbyif.com) have launched Data Rights Finder, a new tool which will make it easier for the public to find out how organisations use data and help them to exercise their GDPR rights.

The tool analyses the privacy policies of over 30 fintech organisations, including major banks, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and the Royal Bank of Scotland, and comparison websites such as Compare the Market and Money Saving Expert.

It was developed to help people exercise some of the new rights given to them through the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into force in May this year. These include the rights to see data that companies hold, amend it, delete it, limit it, challenge it and export it. Even when people are aware of their rights, the information they need to exercise them is often buried in long privacy policies. Data Rights Finder makes it quick and easy to search for an organisation, see an overview of its privacy policy and find the information needed to exercise a GDPR right.

The data the tool uses is open source, and IF and Open Rights Group are looking for partners to help them expand the organisations represented. They also plan to extend the coverage to other sectors in the future.

The data can be easily reused by anyone, so IF and ORG hope that organisations will come forward with ideas to use the data to support individuals in their complaints, or analyse what companies are doing with data.

Richard Pope, COO at IF said: “Recent events have shown that the way companies use data affects people’s trust in them. As well as helping people exercise their rights, we believe Data Rights Finder is an opportunity for companies to be more transparent about how they use and manage data.”

Jim Killock, Executive Director at Open Rights Group said: “Everyone has new and stronger rights since GDPR kicked in. Data Rights Finder can help you find out what financial companies know about you and why they’ve decided to offer or decline certain products. Your data increasingly defines you and your life chances, which is why we’ve built this tool.”

ENDS

Notes:

• IF (projectsbyif.com) is a specialist digital rights consultancy founded by Sarah Gold in 2015. IF designs and builds services that respect people’s rights, and its Data Ethics Toolkits help companies improve how they manage data.
• Open Rights Group campaigns for the rights to privacy and free speech online. Founded in 2005, it is the UK’s only grassroots digital rights organisation.
• Data Rights Finder is a joint initiative by Open Rights Group and IF, with funding from the Information Commissioner’s Office.