Electoral roll "edited register". Experian selling information > Criminal offence?

Edited_Register

@bert&ernie

I'm having a bit of trouble following this.

I will try to help

Most people register to vote at the address where they they live i.e. their home.

You are only allowed to register to vote at ONE address. Registering to vote at multiple addresses is another offence

Most people also find it necessary to provide this name and address to other organisations in order to receive goods and services.

Most of the people I know have multiple residencies, are you suggesting that a person in that position cannot operate a functioning household from another address, surely not.

The situation you describe seems to be a little unusual.

Main residence, a pied-a-tere in the city and a holiday home, is it really that unusual to envisage? Examples at the very least includes the recent debacle about our politicians, and what about the thousands of home county and coastal villages virtually turned into ghost towns by non resident second home owners? The national scourge of the second home owners who leave their properties vacant! it may be even more surprising to learn that a significant proportion could well be third and fourth home owners.

Are you saying that you have never provided that name and address to any organisation other than the local authority for electoral registration?

No hawkers, circulars or unsolicited mail. Why on earth would one wish to deliberately invite mail to be sent to an address that remains predominantly unoccupied and not used for administration?

Incidentally, in your OP you say that your MPS registration had lapsed, so Experian had no obligation to cleanse that address from its lists.

With respect, I suggest you wholly misunderstand the purpose and operation of MPS. All parties in the chain have a legal obligation to the Representation of the Peoples Act 2000. The Act does not specify MPS
To whom do you believe the legislation refers to?
This was my original question.

This still hinges on your assumption that Experian have used the edited register for illegal purposes. You haven't actually provided any evidence to prove that this is the case.

Actually it is the full register not the edited register that is under discussion, and nowhere is it suggested that it has been used for illegal purposes, who said a prize draw was illegal? I have traced the route from one government department to another which part is confusing?

I suspect your position is to simply defend Experian as an institution that is wholly necessary to obtain credit, the latter being the main subject of this forum section.

Perhaps not the most objective section to create the thread in.

Anyway please allow me to thank you for taking the time to post your particular view.

rgds

p.s. thankyou jonnyb and almost in the black, I have just caught your posts as I am uploading.

kilasuit

basically you were registered electoral role but opted to be on the EDITED Register but as the Full one (and as your still on it so can still have your details) can be and is sold to the CRA's and FPA's and it is from the FULL register that your details have been sold on form and it is this action that you are saying is a criminal act

I agree with you and also think that it may also be a breach of the Data Protection Act

bert&ernie

Edited_Register wrote: »

@bert&ernie

I will try to help

You are only allowed to register to vote at ONE address. Registering to vote at multiple addresses is another offence

Most of the people I know have multiple residencies, are you suggesting that a person in that position cannot operate a functioning household from another address, surely not.

Main residence, a pied-a-tere in the city and a holiday home, is it really that unusual to envisage? Examples at the very least includes the recent debacle about our politicians, and what about the thousands of home county and coastal villages virtually turned into ghost towns by non resident second home owners? The national scourge of the second home owners who leave their properties vacant! it may be even more surprising to learn that a significant proportion could well be third and fourth home owners.

No hawkers, circulars or unsolicited mail. Why on earth would one wish to deliberately invite mail to be sent to an address that remains predominantly unoccupied and not used for administration?

With respect, I suggest you wholly misunderstand the purpose and operation of MPS. All parties in the chain have a legal obligation to the Representation of the Peoples Act 2000. The Act does not specify MPS
To whom do you believe the legislation refers to?
This was my original question.

Actually it is the full register not the edited register that is under discussion, and nowhere is it suggested that it has been used for illegal purposes, who said a prize draw was illegal? I have traced the route from one government department to another which part is confusing?

I suspect your position is to simply defend Experian as an institution that is wholly necessary to obtain credit, the latter being the main subject of this forum section.

Perhaps not the most objective section to create the thread in.

Anyway please allow me to thank you for taking the time to post your particular view.

rgds

p.s. thankyou jonnyb and almost in the black, I have just caught your posts as I am uploading.

You seem remarkably adept at responding to questions in a way that only manages to further confuse the issue - perhaps you are actually one of the multi-residenced MPs that you mention?

If you aren't a politician, then I suggest that you may be the type of person who enjoys writing rambling and incoherent letters to various organisations for no reason other than to generate a response and then continue a chain of vexatious correspondence.

Whatever your ultimate motivation, you clearly have an agenda and do not intend to consider any alternative views.

For the record, it is not my position to defend Experian as either a Credit Reference Agency, marketing data provider or anything else.

It is indeed the full register that is under discussion and I can only apologise for the error in my original post. There is obviously nothing illegal in the prize draw itself, but the use of the full register for this purpose would be illegal. This is the allegation that you are making, but I don't see what evidence you have for this other than the fact that the prize draw invitation has the same name and address that you registered and requested to be kept off the edited register.

It occurs to me that there are two possible explanations for this:

1. You have stumbled across a criminal conspiracy to to use the full electoral register for marketing purposes;
2. You have supplied (knowingly or otherwise) the same address to an organisation who (correctly or otherwise) have provided this to experian for the purposes of direct marketing.

I know which one my money is on. However, if you really want to waste more time on it, might I suggest the following:

1. Send a full Subject Access Request to Experian;
2. Make a complaint to the Electoral Commission;
3. Write to your MP;
4. Hell, why not make a formal complaint to the energy saving trust - they are a publicly funded body and they are probably obliged to waste our money humouring you too.

Obvioulsy, this list is not exhaustive and I'm sure there are many other bodies that you can take this to between here and the European Court of Human Rights.

Best of luck and do let us know how you get on!

bert.

noh

So you haven't provided your details to any organisation other than the local authourity?
No gas, electricity, water, fixed line telephone, contents insurance, or buildings insurance at this address in your name? Do you have a mortgage on the property?

maninthestreet

[QUOTE=Edited Register;23265745

You are only allowed to register to vote at ONE address. Registering to vote at multiple addresses is another offence

[/QUOTE]

No it's not - please get your facts right.

savagej

I think the mistake is, you can only vote once in each election no matter how many addresses you are registered at. But you can register at more than one address it is common with students away from home as no one know when an election might be called, you could be a uni miles away or you could be at home.

ILW

I get the impression the OP may have a little to much time on their hands.
Either that or is a law student doing a bit of practical.

bert&ernie

The OP must be at the residence secondaire this evening.

followingthemoney

I also have concerns about this and do not feel they should be allowed to sell our information. My main question though is where does the money go that they make from selling it? Whose pockets does it line?
And I always thought that you cannot sell something which you do not own?

followingthemoney

bert -
"It occurs to me that there are two possible explanations for this:

1. You have stumbled across a criminal conspiracy to to use the full electoral register for marketing purposes;
2. You have supplied (knowingly or otherwise) the same address to an organisation who (correctly or otherwise) have provided this to experian for the purposes of direct marketing."

I know these posts were some time ago now... and things may have changed - but I recieved a letter this morning along with my annual reminder to get my details on the electoral role saying
'This leaflet explains the choice you have about the supply of your personal information from the electoral register to others. Enclosed is a voter registration form.../ by law you must fill in this form...../ You can choose one of the following options:
1. If you do not want your details sold to any person or company or used for any purpose, tick the box in the coilumn headed the Edited Register
2. If you do not mind that your personal information is purchased and used for marketing or any other purpose, do not tick the box. Leave it blank.

So yes, they are indeed selling our personal data to anyone who wants it unless we opt out. They assume it's ok unless we tell them it's not.
I don't think this is in any way OK.