You and Yours

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You and Yours: Upgrading landlines, Gym use, Data mining

03/09/2021

Upgrading landlines, Gym use, Data mining

BBC Radio 4 - You and Yours, Upgrading landlines, Gym use, Data mining

Upgrading landlines to digital. Changing gym habits. Better understanding data sharing.

The big digital telephone switchover heading our way. 
How the pandemic has changed how we work out in the gym.
Delving into how companies use and share our data to make money.

The technology that's been used to make and receive phone calls since Victorian times will finally be switched off in 2025 - just over four years from now. Some landline operators have already started switching customers from the old analogue copper telephone system to an internet based connection. We've already reported on some of the flaws with upgrading to the new digital system such as getting cut off for periods of time and panic buttons not being compatible following the changeover. We speak to Chris Howe, BT's Customer Care Director, about what's being done to iron out these problems and whether it really will be a stress free process for customers.

We look at some of the surprising ways the pandemic has changed how we work out in the gym. Flexible working has meant that many of us have been more creative with how we use our time. Figures from PureGym, the UK's largest chain, suggests we're working out for longer and at different times of day.  What's more attendance grew by 150,000 between March and May - a third of which were people joining for the first time. We speak to Rebecca Passmore, UK Managing Director of PureGym.

It's now been three years since GDPR data protection rules were introduced in the UK. The regulations are meant to make it easier for people to tell businesses and organisations what they can and can't do with their data - stuff as basic as your name, address, date of birth, and what you're buying.
But a survey of more than 1,500 people by Rightly, a company that looks at the data businesses gather about us, found that more than half still don't really understand what is happening to their information. We speak to Rightly's Chief Executive, James Walker.




Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Tara Holmes

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You and Yours

Upgrading landlines, Gym use, Data mining

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