Slashdot Mirror
UK Company Sold Workers' Secret Data
krou writes "The BBC is reporting that the Information Commissioner's Office has shut down a company in the UK for a serious breach of the Data Protection Act. It claims that the company, The Consulting Association in Droitwich, Worcs, ran a secret system that it repeatedly denied existed for 15 years, selling workers' confidential data, including union activities, to building firms, allowing potential employers to unlawfully vet job applicants. About 3,213 workers were in the database, and other information included data on personal relationships, political affiliations, and employment histories. More than 40 firms are believed to have used the service, paying a £3,000 annual fee, and each of them will be investigated, too." The article says that The Consulting Association faces a £5,000 fine — after pulling in £1.8 million over 15 years with its illegal blacklist.
It's kind of hard to say "continue, please" louder than by slapping such an enormous fine.
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
surely the damage done over 15 years to the families of those not employed because of this illegal practice is much bigger than £1.8mln...
Can I put a spell on those who can't spell?
Your wheels are loose and they're losing their grip, good you're there.
This blacklist was specifically for the construction industry - for those who haven't RTFA. The terrible thing is that this list, and its sale for money, has been around for years and years. It's the industry's dirty little secret. It's only now they've computerised the records that they can use the Data Protection Act to prosecute. Sadly, I have no doubt that the information will live on somehow. All the major players have fingers in the pie and won't give it up, I think.
I have no
Are they also open to civil lawsuits from affected employees?
Just to point out that the original BBC article (when I submitted the story to /.) had a quote from the notes in the illegal database stating that someone was a member of the Communist Party, hence why I mentioned it contained political affiliations. Not sure why the BBC removed this, but just thought I'd mention it in case someone wonders why.
'If Christ had tweeted the sermon on the mount, it might have lasted until nightfall.' - John Perry Barlow
Finally we figure out the 4. ????? before 5. Profit!
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
Let me get this right:
British Employers are paranoid that potential employees are Communists or worse. They subscribe to a secret blacklist that potentials have no knowledge of or ability to refute allegations. Anyone blacklisted will not be employed, but the work still needs to be done.
So they draft in cheap labor from countries that didn't even exist twenty years ago. As these migrant workers aren't on the blacklist, they get cherry picked for work that local labor should have the same rights to apply for. The end result being the rise of local unemployment through no fault of the workers.
No wonder their economy is fucked.
"Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
Does your government sell information about your political activities etc to a cabal of semi-criminals? No? Well, there you have your answer, then.
Just because you have an ingrown bias that tells that "Everthing the government does is evil, and everything a private business does is sort of OK, even if it is criminal" doesn't mean that it makes sense. You would probably benefit from taking off your blinkers once in a while.
You mean other than the fact that blacklists like that database are illegal?
...what a surprise.
The article does not say that the company is being fined £5000; it's the owner himself who faces prosecution, and hence a criminal record.
That's the infuriating aspect of this for some of us in the infosec world. This wasn't "selling private data", it was a good old-fashioned blacklist of "troublesome" employees who did annoying things like joining unions, complaining about health and safety violations (construction's very dangerous in the UK, I think it's ~100 deaths a year, and you can work out the ratio of deaths to maimings and career-ending injuries.) What they did was vile and evil, and the companies (huge mainstream FTSE-listed corporations, mostly) should be taken to the fucking cleaners as a clear sign that this sort of thing is illegal for good reasons, and will not be tolerated. However it's got FA to do with "leaking of personal data"; the headlines here, on the Beeb and even El Reg have been totally misleading.
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -- Goethe
Governments can be held accountable for their actions.
Really? What country do you live in? I'd like to move there.
"City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
Charge them with 3213 instances and fine them per instance. The profit disappears and so does the motivation.
Cut out the 'in the UK bit'. A quick google gives me outdated figures for 2005/6:
UK: 59
US: 5702
jh
A more correct google gives:
UK: 59
US: 1186
jh
Highly variable, I suspect.
Illiterate undocumented immigrant getting paid 80 pence an hour to carry a hod? Probably not.
Skilled tradesman who happens to have political opinions pinker than his boss would like? Quite possibly(especially the web stuff).
Access to legal options, unfortunately, is very much a game for the wealthy; but the interwebs are pretty far downmarket these days.