An organization has asked me to provide further personal information to verify my identity. Is this legal? Can they use this information for other purposes?
Data protection laws require organizations to verify the identity of the individual submitting a request to prevent fraud. Most laws also state that the verification method should be proportional to the nature of the data involved. For example, if you request a copy of your message history from a typical internet forum a simple verification that you own the email address associated with your account should be enough. On the other hand, if you request your transaction history from a financial institution, they are justified in asking you to provide additional information such as a photo ID and proof of address.
In most cases, a simple verification that you own the email address associated with your account should be enough. When you use this service to send a request, an email is sent from your email app, which provides this basic verification.
To further protect you personal information, the requests we generate on your behalf explicitly prohibit organizations from using the personal information included as part of the request for any purpose other than fulfilling the request.
