Privacy ruling opens legal floodgates

A landmark court case won by a retired accountant from West Yorkshire could change the landscape for data protection in the UK.

A High Court ruled on Friday that Wakefield City Council flouted both the Human Rights Act and the Data Protection Act by refusing to guarantee that details from the electoral roll wouldn't be sold for commercial use.

Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, said: "The ramifications of this case are profound. I suspect there are many information processes out there which will be outlawed because of this."

The ruling backs the efforts of the Information Commissioner's office which has struggled to get businesses and agencies to take the new DPA seriously.

Iain Bourne, strategic policy manager at the Commission, said electoral data should only be used for electoral purposes. "The idea that you're compelled by law to register, and then any Tom, Dick or Harry can buy that information for anything they want, seems unsustainable to us," he told silicon.com.

In his ruling, Mr Justice Maurice Kay dismissed the defence argument, on behalf of Wakefield Council and the Home Office, that consumers and suppliers both enjoy the benefits of selling data.

He found evidence that the Council's actions broke the core DPA principle that a data subject can ask for their personal details not to be used.

He also ruled that selling data in the knowledge it would be used for marketing broke Article 8 of the Human Rights Act which states "everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence".

The ruling could have severe consequences for other local authorities, government agencies and commercial firms. "The Electoral Register is one of the biggest and most comprehensive sources of personal data you can buy," said Bourne. "How it plays out in the future, we'll have to wait and see."

According to Privacy International's Davies this could be the first in a raft of similar cases. "These agencies build entire infrastructures out of misusing data," he said. "Now they'll have to think very carefully about their forward planning."