Anger at Blunkett store card claim

HOME Secretary David Blunkett has warned that store loyalty card may be regulated to protect consumer privacy.

He said the Government may adopt a 'light touch' regulatory approach to stop retailers misusing data collected from store loyalty cards.

He claimed companies can use the information to devise targeted advertising campaigns or sell on to third parties.

Blunkett made the claim as he outlined plans for a national, compulsory ID card. He said a national card would enable 'ordinary citizens to protect and prove their identity' rather than be used as a Big Brother style surveillance tool.

He said: 'Store loyalty cards keep continuously updated details such as the size of a person's household, whether they're employed or not and the ages of their children, besides what they like to eat, where and how often they shop and even what brand of toothpaste they use.

'If you do hold a store loyalty card – and the odds are you do – you have already consented to all this information being repeatedly shared with other companies without any requirement to ask again for your approval.'

The Home Secretary held up a Nectar Card while making a speech to the Institute of Public Policy Research.

Blunkett's claim provoked anger from retailers. Tesco dismissed his comments as 'scaremongering' and 'irrelevant' to the ID debate. Tesco launched its loyalty card in 1995 and has 11m users.

A spokeswoman said: 'Tesco Clubcard is optional and enables customers to receive a small thankyou for shopping with us and take advantage of targeted promotions. Tesco never shares personal customer details with third parties, indeed any company that does so without customer consent would be acting illegally.'

Rob Gierkink, chief executive of the company behind the Nectar loyalty card, added it was 'ludicrous' to compare store cards with ID cards.