The Information Commissioners Office (New Tool) – Business Owners, Watch out!

Here Robyn Banks who is a Data Protection Specialist and an Affiliate for INsiders – meaning business owners get a discount to be compliant with data protection laws and requirements, shares a stark warning on the risks to AI templates for privacy notices and templates. Learn more about affiliates offers for INsiders here.

Many people I come across in business and in my charity work for Lions tell me that they have gone on the ICO website and used the templates there for Data Protection/UK GDPR compliance.  If you wish to go down this line, then I won’t stop you – but using these templates or their new AI tool for Privacy Notices, even if it’s on the ICO website – comes with a warning….

WARNING:- You have no protection from fines from the ICO by using their templates or AI tool – you could still be found to be non-compliant and fined.

The templates themselves breach the laws.  There is one concept which overrides everything when drafting Privacy NOTICES (used to be Policies)  – that of “Privacy by design”. 

Privacy By Design requires the business/organisation “owner” to look at the organisation as a stand alone and draft accordingly.  It must apply to your business and way of working to be compliant. Even adapting the templates could cause issues because you may be taking out something you should leave it, or vice versa.

The AI tool – this is also “risky”.  AI, by definition, scours the internet and drafts something for you using other people’s work.  This again could breach the Privacy By design concept.  You should also remember that AI is no respecter of privacy laws, copyright or intellectual property.  So you could fall foul of more than one set of laws if you use this tool!  That could be a very expensive mistake.

I have been working in the field of data protection/UK GDPR for nearly 25 years.  Many hours in that time have been spent drafting Privacy Notices and supplementary documentation to be compliant with ICO rules and the laws themselves. Paying me for my time and expertise will be a lot cheaper than even one fine from the ICO – worth considering!