27 August 2008

Data Solutions Australia, a small business providing mailing and telemarketing data for direct marketing, was named tonight as the winner of the Microsoft Small-Medium Business Award category in the inaugural Australian Privacy Awards program.

"This Award shows that businesses in all sectors - including direct marketers - can operate successfully without compromising people''s right to privacy," said Karen Curtis, the Australian Privacy Commissioner.

The Award was presented at a gala dinner held in Sydney by the category''s sponsor, Peter Cullen, Microsoft''s Chief Privacy Strategist.

Data Solutions Australia''s "Privacy Plus" program regularly washes its marketing data against the Do Not Call Register and ADMA''s Do Not Contact Registry. Other aspects of the program include:

• a website tool allowing people to remove themselves from the database immediately
• providing clients with a facility to identify the original source of data, which minimises the number of privacy complaints
• indemnifying clients by the business taking ownership of the data and giving clients an indemnity date
• binding clients with terms and conditions of data usage
• employing dedicated staff to manage privacy issues.

Other winners of the Australian Privacy Awards included: Medicare (Grand Award), Telstra (Large Business Award), Australian Dental Association NSW Branch (Community & NGO Award), and the Child Support Agency (Symantec Government Award). High Court Judge Michael Kirby was named as the recipient of the Australian Privacy Medal.

The Awards were sponsored by Symantec (Major Sponsor), Microsoft (Major Sponsor), Clayton Utz (Executive Sponsor), and Australian Finance Conference (Sponsor).