UK: "Information Commissioner Gets Tough & Would Like To Get Tougher!"

"Data Protection - Why should we bother?"

Whilst this may appear a slightly extreme view, it is one that remains to be held by some and it is a view that the Information Commissioner is determined to stamp out.

In just the first three months of 2006 the ICO successfully prosecuted four separate cases of breach of the Data Protection Act 1998. In one case, a one-year conditional discharge was handed out to an individual who had unlawfully disclosed personal data and in another a private detective was fined £600 for trying to obtain personal data.

In his report "What price privacy?" he makes it clear that the buying and selling of personal information is a major issue in the UK and the consequences of this activity on the individual could be severe. Richard Thomas argues that the existing legislation does not go far enough which has resulted in those who take part in such activity treating the legislation with disdain. The Information Commissioner would like to get tougher on such matters and has called for the imposition of two year prison sentences for those who buy and sell personal information.

The ‘Buyers’ of personal information have been found to include journalists and finance companies wishing to trace debtors. The information sought includes current addresses, details of car ownership and bank account details. The ‘Suppliers’ are generally found within the private investigation business. The Suppliers use two main methods to obtain the information. These are corruption, or by some form of deception, referred to in the Report as ‘blagging’. Blaggers pretend to be someone they are not, in order to obtain the information sought. Therefore they obtain information illegally and then sell it for a specified price.

In light of this we would advise you to carefully consider the source of any personal information sought in order to avoid penalties under existing legislation.

The material contained in this article is of the nature of general comment only and does not give advice on any particular matter. Readers should not act on the basis of the information in this article without taking appropriate professional advice upon their own particular circumstances.