Hello all. Just checked in on Twitter and appears things are kicking off on my tweets from yesterday. So, in the interests of full clarity and to make sure I am not spreading misinformation, here is precisely what happened and some verifiable information people have added.
I woke up feeling ill (cough, sore throat, sore muscles, fatigue) I am in contact with fairly high risk people so thought I would look into getting a home Covid test. I did this through the gov.uk website. When prompted I said I did not have severe symptoms...
I know my NI number, do not now my NHS number. I am self employed so submit taxes through this website & am on the electoral roll. I then saw the page asking me to allow TransUnion to verify me. I did a quick google of TransUnion and this came up clearly labelling them American. 
I got an instant "no feeling" from this so did some more searching on TransUnion and Covid testing and saw that other people had clocked it too. I also discovered it had meant that some people had not been able to get tests. It seemed very off to me so I shared the screengrab.
(I have mentioned previously but important I reiterate that obviously I don't understand the full legal workings of everything. I had done some research, looked to double check what I had read and was clear to point out what was and wasn't conjecture. Not bad for Twitter.)
So, there is a lot of debate over the GDPR issue. That the US and EU rules are different is true but a number of people believe information given this way is secure. It could well be and I definitely hope so. That was conjecture on my part on maybe why it was a US company.
To that point, important to say TransUnion also have a UK office. My search called them a US company (I mean, they are) but labelling them an American Credit Check Co. was possibly misleading (I don't personally believe having a UK office makes it all fine but worth noting)
Most importantly. Please don't let this put you off getting a Covid test if you need one. This check only applies to home testing so not the drive in ones and it seems not everyone has been asked for this information on the gov.uk website anyway (not sure why)
Also, I haven't "hidden" any replies except one faceless dude with 1 follower early on who was being rude. You know the sort. I also didn't want to delete parts of the thread that might then make useful replies disappear or not make sense.
If my tweets seemed to have an anti Conservative bent it's because I don't like them and believe they have handled the pandemic badly.
There is probably something to be said for using outside help & logistics in extraordinary times (side note, apparently the tests turn up in Amazon boxes.) Perhaps more info on gov.uk would help matters to this end?
To people saying things like "TransUnion probably know everything about you already so who cares" I would say, love yourselves more.
In conclusion. I still don't understand why the electoral roll etc isn't enough, nor what this fraud they are scared of is supposed to be. In a climate where you are trying to prove you are not selling the NHS off, using a US co, even with UK offices, seems at best naive
In the end it was enough to stop me (and many others) getting a test, and many people have said they were unable to be verified anyway so, lack of testing is a concern even beyond privacy issues.
Inevitably flag twitter has begun to tell me to “delete these lies” There are no lies. Having an office in the UK doesn’t full out stop you being a US company There’s a DisneyLand in Paris. I have dutifully passed on all the information so you can make up your own minds.
Still looks dodgy to me. If it doesn’t to you, no stress.
Do look to get tested if you need it and #StaySafe
Do look to get tested if you need it and #StaySafe
