Privacy plea for voters' data

Councils should be banned from selling private information of millions of UK residents gleaned from the electoral roll, according to a new report on the use of personal information.

The report, commissioned by the government and headed by Information Commissioner Richard Thomas and Wellcome Trust director Dr Mark Walport, said that sellings voters' details to commercial firms sent a "poor message".

Selling edited versions of the electoral register to companies earns local councils hundreds of thousands pounds annually.

Companies typically pay £20 plus £1.50 for every 1,000 entries, according to a fee scale set out in the Representation of the People Regulations 2001.

Thomas said: "We feel that selling the edited register is an unsatisfactory way for local authorities to treat personal information."

The government's initial response states that measures need to be taken to increase trust.

The Information Commissioner called for a cultural change in how personal information is handled by government, councils and private companies.

Dr Walport also highlighed the fact that surfers might be sharing too much personal information on social networking sites which could be used for marketing purposes.

"Many individuals are posting more and more personal information on the web and of course web technology means that it can be aggregated in a very powerful way" he said.

The report suggested that internet sites which collected people's details from electoral rolls, company registers, telephone directories and website were a "worrying threat to privacy".

How do you feel about having your information used for commercial reasons by your local council? Let us know in the Web User forums.

www.ico.gov.uk