UK - Netpig Insurance - Lack of Data Protection?

[keysofanxiety]

Apologies in advance if this is in the wrong forum.

I'll try to be as concise as I can but I'm a little distressed and would love some advice. Basically, it looks like my personal info is splattered all over the net. Ages ago I got a quote for car insurance from this UK company called 'Netpig' who have now been bought by another company.

And all my personal information that I put in to apply for the insurance (address, telephone numbers, D.O.B., email address) has been cached by Google, which means that it can't have been secure in the first place. So much for the Data Protection act.

I spoke with the company who bought them out and they simply said that it was 'Google's fault' as they had the cached data. I pointed out that the data wouldn't be cached in the first place if it had been encrypted, so they just said they were endeavouring to contact Google to get it taken off and that I should do the same.

But I'm really not comfortable with this. What can I do?

I'd also recommend anybody who's gone with Netpig in the past to just Google their telephone number or something to ensure the data isn't cached ... If anybody has any ideas please let me know what I can do. I'm not sure if I'm overreacting or ...

Screenshot attached for your convenience.

Replies will be hugely appreciated, thank you to anybody who can suggest anything. I'm just really worried

 

[Primus84]

Complain to the Information Commissioner now!

 

[keysofanxiety]

Complain to the Information Commissioner now!

Hello matey, thanks for your reply. Sorry for not getting back to you, I hadn't realised my thread had been updated.

I've done that and the ICO suggested I send a request to Google's cache removal, which I've done now. I feel a lot better.

Thanks again for your help, I wouldn't have known where to go otherwise.

Best wishes,

Steven

 

[Primus84]

Hello matey, thanks for your reply. Sorry for not getting back to you, I hadn't realised my thread had been updated.

I've done that and the ICO suggested I send a request to Google's cache removal, which I've done now. I feel a lot better.

Thanks again for your help, I wouldn't have known where to go otherwise.

Best wishes,

Steven

No problem, were the ICO any help? I would have thought they should be investigating this and taking action against the company concerned but sometimes the ICO seem to be reluctant to do anything.

 

[keysofanxiety]

No problem, were the ICO any help? I would have thought they should be investigating this and taking action against the company concerned but sometimes the ICO seem to be reluctant to do anything.

Yeah, the representative was fairly sympathetic. Unfortunately as Netpig are no longer around, there's not much they can do. However he was amazed because he said a simple 'robots.txt' could have stopped Google caching it.

But as it seems to be on Google's servers - not with Yahoo and stuff - only they'll be able to sort it out. So I've submitted a mention with them.

Shame I didn't find out about this when Netpig were still around ... I could've made a few quid from a lawsuit. God knows I need some cash

Thanks again for your help.