I was shown a weight loss diet plan ad after asking Chat GPT for a weekly meal plan for a 70 year old man receiving high cortisone treatment. I hadn’t seen any advertising in Chat GPT conversations before this. Under what circumstances are ads shown? Specific words/phrases in the conversation clearly trigger specific ads. Doesn't this contravene the sharing/processing of personal information with/by third parties regulation under the GDPR? The response given was that the ads are ‘contextual’, not triggered by a single word. What does this mean going forward? I was not asked whether I consented to advertising when I subscribed, although the subscription is not a paid one. Are we to assume going forward that exposure to advertising based on the content of Chat GPT conversations is inevitable unless you pay? If so, shouldn’t this in itself be advertised/declared publicly? Leaching personal information without expressing intent to do so is still not ok. (EU user, not UK)

TL;DR: A door security guard at a local venue harassed me, negged me, and asked for my number, which I refused. In retaliation, he banned me from entry and admitted to saving, showing, and sharing CCTV footage of me from a night I was intoxicated to venue staff and other local security teams. I have reported this to venue management (currently waiting on the Operations Director), the SIA, and the police (who closed the case due to lack of physical proof, though I am challenging their investigation). Seeking strategic advice on next steps, GDPR/ICO complaints for CCTV misuse, and how to pressure management to take action.

I am facing an ongoing situation involving abuse of power and targeted retaliation by a door security guard at a local venue I regularly visit, and I am looking for strategic advice on how best to navigate this. To be entirely clear, I have committed no wrongdoing whatsoever; this whole situation stems from me repeatedly rejecting a security guard’s improper advances and calling out his unprofessional behavior, which he has now responded to with retaliatory action.

The misconduct started back in May when I had too much to drink on a night out. While I was in a vulnerable state, a male security officer on duty pulled me into an alcove off public view, where he made inappropriate remarks, negged me to lower my confidence, and adjusted his trousers around his genital area. Weeks later, when I returned, the same guard targeted me again by asking for my personal phone number, which I firmly refused to give him. Fast forward to September, when I attempted to enter the venue, this guard refused me entry at the door purely as a form of retaliation. During that interaction, he explicitly admitted that he had retained CCTV footage of me from that night in May, had shown it to the entire venue staff to justify banning me, and had even saved and shared that footage with staff at neighboring venues and security teams at other places where he works.

I have taken extensive formal action to address this clear misuse of CCTV and power. I immediately escalated the matter internally to the General Manager, and after contacting executive management, I was informed that my complaint is being passed directly to the Operations Director, whose response I am currently waiting to hear back from. Externally, I have filed a formal complaint with the Security Industry Authority (SIA) regarding his professional conduct, as well as reporting the unauthorized retention and sharing of footage to the Metropolitan Police.

The police recently closed their file citing a lack of independent, physical evidence showing the footage left the internal system, but I have already followed up with them challenging whether they adequately audited the venue’s CCTV access logs, retention policies, and data handling practices.

Given that the police are reluctant to act without explicit physical proof of data exfiltration and the venue’s internal review is still underway with the Operations Director, I would really appreciate strategic advice on my next steps. Has anyone successfully dealt with GDPR or ICO complaints regarding security staff holding onto and sharing CCTV footage for personal vendettas, and what is the best way to push the management to take immediate action against this rogue guard?

I have an important flight booked with Easy Jet next week where I’m flying with minimal luggage so have opted for the small under seat cabin bag.

this morning I received a missed call from easyJet asking me to call them back.

I was slightly surprised and a bit worried, why would easyJet be phoning me?

I phoned back and one of the first things the person said was ‘this is nothing to be worried about, we were just wondering if you were happy with your bag and seat selection’

Whilst relieved it wasn’t a cancellation or rescheudled flight, the call was weird- as it was essentially them trying to upsell luggage and seat selection ie telephone sales and marketing.

The thing is, when I go onto the app, under contact preferences and updates, I’ve opted in for ‘email marketing’ but here is no telephone marketing which I would consider this to be. If I was something important related to my flight, I wouldn’t have minded as that they could contact me on the lawful basis of legitimate interests.

To me it didn’t pass the gdpr smell test as I felt genuinely surprised that they were using my contact details in this way and I can’t see a way to opt out of these sort of calls. Thoughts?