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The real-estate sector has once again caught the attention of the CNIL for questionable privacy practices. A company had been sending text messages to numerous private property owners, without their consent, in order to offer its real-estate analysis services. Several owners filed a complaint with the CNIL after having been unable to unsubscribe several times.
After an onsite investigation, the CNIL found that the property owners’ contact details had been purchased from providers of online real estate services who had merely captured advertisements. These were not opt-in lists of contact details.
The CNIL pointed out that the company concerned, as a data controller, had to verify whether the contacts details lists were opt-in. The real estate company could not hide behind the seller of the lists.
Moreover, the privacy notice provided to individuals was not compliant. The company unsuccessfully argued that the elements of information legally required were too long to be included in text messages. The CNIL could refer to other companies that managed to make the notice fit in one or two messages.
The CNIL noted also that the only means provided to data subjects to unsubscribe were not free of charge—need to send a text message or to call a number—and not effective. Indeed, the requests for unsubscribing were not taken into account by the company.
The CNIL sentenced the company to a pecuniary sanction of €20,000 and published its decision on the Internet.
