The UK information commissioner has called for those
convicted of illegally selling and buying personal information to
be jailed for up to two years.
The call came from information commissioner Richard Thomas, who
presented a report to parliament this week on the growing illegal
sale of personal information.
One of the tasks of the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)
is to deal with the problem of public sector employees selling on
the personal data of citizens they come into contact with.
The ICO report also said that public authorities might be
unwittingly encouraging the growth in the sale of illegally gained
personal information as a result of using debt collection agencies
and private investigators to hunt down debtors.
Thomas said that current penalties for those caught illegally
obtaining personal information were too low, and that a two-year
sentence for such crimes could prove a deterrent.
Thomas plans to publish a follow-up report in six months’ time
to record responses to this week’s report, and to give parliament
an update on how the problem is being tackled.