By Jo Best, 24 April 2007 16:17
NEWS
A firm of private investigators has found itself on the wrong side of the law after pleading guilty to unlawfully obtaining data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The company, Infofind, "blagged" information on 250 individuals from the government unit in an attempt to trace debtors, in order to sell the details on to a finance business, according to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
The ICO said Infofind had signed an agreement with its finance client to work within the confines of the Data Protection Act (DPA) but breached it repeatedly by blagging information on individuals protected under the DPA.
The private investigation firm and its MD were convicted of 44 counts of unlawfully obtaining and selling personal information at Kingston Magistrates' Court and fined as well as having to pay £5,000 towards costs.
The firm was fined £100 for each of four offences, and the MD £700 for each of four offences.
Comments
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1. Eddie Hamilton
Bad news when the costs outweigh the fine, A hundred pounds per offence with the MD getting 700 per offence. This isn't just an opportune individual, buty a company that knows how to circumvent the system. Other companies will look at this and rub their hands with glee
The judge should just have invited them in for a cup of tea and lectured on their wrong doings for the effect it will have
2. Sarah
£100 fine for each offence?
Shows what the government really think of and how rubbish the DPA legislation is ....
The fine should have been at least £10,000 per offence. Otherwise it is not acting to deter anyone else from doing this.
3. anonymous
SHOCK! Debt collection agencies may sometimes use dodgy techniques and might even lie! Notwithstanding that the fine is just an insult - the real question is how the "blagging" got around DWP's security policy. They are the ones with the duty of care to protect information.