b4u search.com - your name and address are on it!

superscaper

I wonder what they'd say if I told them my mum's details are on there and she's never been on any Electoral Roll!!! How can that be compliant?

Paul_Herring

superscaper wrote:

I wonder what they'd say if I told them my mum's details are on there and she's never been on any Electoral Roll!!! How can that be compliant?

Email the commissioner and find out - the email address is on post #100: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=2877999&postcount=100


Let us know if they give you an answer please

superscaper

I've emailed this to them: The B4usearch.com website claim to get their information from the Electoral Roll, could you confirm whether this is true as my mother’s details are listed as with the rest of my family but by mother has never listed herself on any electoral roll as she is not a British citizen. I have confirmed with both my parents they have never supplied my mother’s details to the electoral roll so I am interested in where the aforementioned website obtains their data. For confirmation I have checked other electoral roll search websites such as 192.com and they correctly exclude my mother’s details.

sandralovescats

You can also get this on https://www.192.com for a small fee!

superscaper

Just thought I'd post an update, I received an email this morning from the ICO regarding my mother's details (thought the bit about b4u getting their info from 3rd party was interesting):

Thank you for your email regarding the B4U website and the display of your mother's details.



The Information Commissioner's Office advises on and enforces the Data Protection Act 1998. This Act is based around 8 Principles which companies must comply with when processing 'personal data'.



In your email you have advised that your mother's details are listed on the 'Electoral Roll' section of the site although she has never appeared on the electoral roll. You have asked whether we can confirm if B4U have in fact obtained their information from the electoral roll.



As you may be aware the Information Commissioner's Office has already served an enforcement notice on B4U Business Media (the company responsible for the website) in terms of their compliance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998. Although that notice was initially appealed B4U Business Media have now withdrawn their appeal and should therefore comply with the terms of the enforcement notice by 13th November 2006. The notice required that they cease making data from the pre-2002 electoral roll available on their site.



As your mother's information is included in the 'Electoral Roll' area of the site then it would appear that her information would be likely to be removed at the same time as the other personal information in that section of the site. However I appreciate that as your mother has never been on the Electoral roll you are concerned about why her information has been displayed in this way, and about the source of the information.



In our correspondence with B4U Business Media before we served the ultimate Enforcement Notice on the company we did ask them to confirm the source of the data they were using on the 'Electoral roll' section of the site. It did appear from a number of other enquiries that we have received that the information could not be sourced entirely from the Electoral Roll. B4U have informed us that they purchased the information from a third party data company on the basis that it was information from the last publicly available electoral roll collected before the change to the law in 2002. Unfortunately the company which they purchased the data from no longer exists and therefore it was not possible to make further enquiries with this company about the data they were using.



Serving an Enforcement Notice against a company is the final step which the Information Commissioner's Office can take to ensure compliance with the Data Protection Act. In most cases we deal with we are able to ensure compliance without needing to take this step. In deciding to take Enforcement Action against B4U Business Media we looked at a number of issues of concern with the information on the site including whether the information itself is displayed in an accurate and up to date manner, and our concerns about the source of the data.



If your mother's information is not removed from the site by November 13th please contact us again, quoting the reference number above.



I hope this has been helpful in explaining the situation.



Yours sincerely