Barclays GDPR security

haddo

OK, the mistake I made was to take Barclays instructions literally.

I searched for ‘Barclays data control’ in a web browser then did a Ctrl-F find for ‘Access your data request’ - which is what they said to do. Waste of time in DuckDuckGo (you can click More Results ad infinitum, never find that text), but when I did it in Google, I got a hit on the first page from prismic-io. Clicked on that, it said “Barclays Access Your Data Request” with a download button. Didn’t trust it, took a screenshot; page gone now.

What Barclays need to do is explicitly state that you should click the barclays.co.uk link at the top of Google / DuckDuckGo search, even though it doesn’t contain their specified text. Or, as eskbanker suggested, include the link in the mailed letter, so you have to type it in. They missed a step in their instructions.

Thanks to all who answered.

eskbanker

haddo said:

OK, the mistake I made was to take Barclays instructions literally.

I searched for ‘Barclays data control’ in a web browser then did a Ctrl-F find for ‘Access your data request’ - which is what they said to do. Waste of time in DuckDuckGo (you can click More Results ad infinitum, never find that text), but when I did it in Google, I got a hit on the first page from prismic-io. Clicked on that, it said “Barclays Access Your Data Request” with a download button. Didn’t trust it, took a screenshot; page gone now.

What Barclays need to do is explicitly state that you should click the barclays.co.uk link at the top of Google / DuckDuckGo search, even though it doesn’t contain their specified text. Or, as eskbanker suggested, include the link in the mailed letter, so you have to type it in. They missed a step in their instructions.

Thanks to all who answered.

An interesting interpretation!  To me it's quite clear that the instruction means:

Search for 'Barclays data control' in a web browser - then browse down the [Barclays] page highlighted by that search to 'Access your data request' beneath 'Your choices' Select 'Access my data'

rather than:

Search for 'Barclays data control' in a web browser - then browse down the [search engine] page of search results to 'Access your data request' beneath 'Your choices' Select 'Access my data'

as Barclays obviously can't control or predict search engine behaviour to that extent, but the fact that someone did misunderstand it does perhaps illustrate that more clarity wouldn't hurt.

haddo

@eskbanker: Another quality contribution. I value your input.

I spoke to a woman at Barclays, asked her to go through the process Barclays specified – she had a completely different experience to mine, so we talked it through. When she did the same web search as I did, her browser took her automatically to the first hit; I got a list of hits, to choose the one I preferred.

What do you mean when you say, “highlighted by that search”? When I do a web search, I get what I regard as a flat list – much like the bibliography or references in a book, academic paper, wikipedia article. I don’t regard the first reference as highlighted, just because it’s first. When you use that phrase, “highlighted”, does that mean something other than first, to you?

I’m not criticising here, just seeking information about a different way of looking at things. Why do I have a different experience to other people?

eskbanker

haddo said:

What do you mean when you say, “highlighted by that search”? When I do a web search, I get what I regard as a flat list – much like the bibliography or references in a book, academic paper, wikipedia article. I don’t regard the first reference as highlighted, just because it’s first. When you use that phrase, “highlighted”, does that mean something other than first, to you?

No, the way search engines present results is always a flat list in my experience too, but to me it's important to recognise context when searching for something specific like this (where there will only be one correct answer), so by 'highlighted' what I was really meaning was the first result of the search, with a reasonably obvious correlation with the search term of 'Barclays data control', i.e. a page on a recognisable domain with descriptive text corresponding to what would be expected - for me, the first Google return is:

Control your privacy and data | GDPR | Barclays

https://www.barclays.co.uk › important-information › c...

We're committed to respect your privacy and protect your personal data – as well as giving you access and control of it. Learn what the GDPR means for you.

while the first on DuckDuckGo is to the same page, but chooses to present different explanatory text (as well as a Barclays icon, a potentially useful addition):

Control your privacy and data | GDPR | Barclays

https://www.barclays.co.uk/important-information/control-your-data/

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) became effective from 25 May 2018. Personal data could be used to identify you. It includes your name and contact details, and can also include data about your transactions or your use of our services. What does the GDPR mean?

Does your search for the advised term produce the same?

Having said that, as stated earlier, I agree that in a printed document there shouldn't be any reason why Barclays can't simply publish the URL https://www.barclays.co.uk/important-information/control-your-data/ rather than advising a search - I suppose they could argue that the search method keeps the option open to revise their website structure, but that's not a particularly compelling case!

[Deleted User]

haddo said:

@praisethesun: That's exactly my point. Non-computer-savvy types can potentially give away their data. How do Barclays know people requesting data are computer-savvy.

Just go on the Motoring sub to see the number of people who somehow miss the glaring "Ad" tag on licence renewal "service" sites and all the disclaimers saying it's not the DVLA and pay a third party for essentially nothing. Same as all the stuff like repeat warnings when trying to transfer money out of your bank account and STILL people transfer their savings to scammers because they believe the bank is telling them to move their cash to a safe account.

You can make things idiot proof but then they invent a better class of idiot.