You may have experienced receiving telephone out of blue, start asking you few personal questions that verify you followed by asking whether you are interested in their services or products.  When you ask where they have obtained your phone numbers, you get some discrete answers like “data base” or “confidential source”.  Have you ever wondered if they have your phone number, what else they might have?

I think “The Right to Privacy” is barely understood and protected here in Thailand. 

Why do I say so?  Check below event and see what you think.

I imagine she’s about mid twenties.  With polite and pleasant voice, she introduced herself calling from some insurance company and asked if I were Thai.  This was second or third time receiving similar calls so instead of simply answering No, which would end the call almost immediately, I asked few questions of my own.  Knowing my name and phone number, I recon they might have other information as well.  Faced with unusual questions, though she tried to answer to her best knowledge, saying that the information was given from marketing department, that nice young lady hung up on me…  I don’t blame her for hanging up on these bazaar questions because I wouldn’t know how to answer them unless I was properly trained for such situation.

This made me go a step further and investigation began.  First, the brief search on web “personal information protection in Thailand” and understood that related law was only enforced since 1997, the new constitution, and that it dealt briefly on fundamentals of rights to know and rights to protection of information mostly with government agencies in mind, not of protecting personal injuries caused by private sectors.  Instead of further researching the subject, I called customer service department of that insurance company.

They were disgustingly polite.  Without knowing my true intention, they were questioning as if that nice young telemarketing lady who called me had been impolite to customer.  My questions were;

1. Where did this insurance company which I was never aware of, obtained my name and phone number,
2. Who was provider of these information,
3. What other information were there in their possession.

Blame my poor Thai language skill because most of explanations they gave me made not much sense to me.  If they obtained information through survey or promotional event on their own, how would I as provider of information not remember?  If I have agreed to my credit card company to allow such information to be released, is that under my best knowledge that the information would be sold, if not handed out freely,  for this kind of junk phone calls?  They answered that the only information available on their so called data base is only my name and number, but who knows what else they might have. (You think I am being paranoid? In this digital word, use your imagination what consequences there are if someone else had some of your personal information with intension to have some fun)

I finally asked to just know, how my data was gathered.  They don’t know.  They just have the information, but they have no way to track back how about this information was in their data base, maybe through survey or promotional events or some sort.

I personally think that not knowing where they have my personal information already call for legal action.  Of course, here in Thailand, that would be quite difficult if not mission impossible.

I bet thousands of similar calls are made everyday and you readers might have had similar experiences.  Although we know that the telemarketing is normally acceptable sales practice, is this really alright even if they can’t tell you the source of information?