The ICO says that B4U, a Birmingham company which performs
searches for information on individuals at b4usearch.com, is in
breach of the Data Protection Act (DPA). B4U says that it has not
received any notification of an order.
The ICO says that B4U has breached the Act by using electoral
roll data from before 2002. After 2002, people filling in an
electoral roll form could choose to be excluded from the public
register. The ICO also says that the company ignored requests from
individuals for their details to be removed, which is in
contravention of the Act.
"We will take action against organisations that don't process
personal information in line with the requirements of the Act and
cause significant concern to individuals," said Mick Gorrill, head
of regulatory action at the ICO. "People have an important right
under the Data Protection Act to know that their personal
information is sufficiently protected."
The ICO said that it had received 1,600 complaints about the
site, many saying that B4U did not remove their personal details
when requested.
B4U owner Raj Banga said that no notice has been received, and
that the company has never refused anyone a request for data
removal. "We don't refuse anyone removal from the site, that has
never happened," said Banga. He said that at one point requests for
removal were so numerous that they were taking up to three weeks to
process, but that none was refused.
"People who complained to the ICO about b4usearch.com included a
police officer whose family’s names and addresses, along with a map
to their house, appeared on the website and an individual who had
previously been a victim of identity fraud," said an ICO statement.
"Both were concerned about the availability of their personal
information and the fact that their requests to b4usearch.com
asking for their details to be removed had been ignored."
The B4U website says that written requests for removal will take
five days to process and details a premium rate fax line which
costs £1.50 per minute which can be used for more immediate
removals.
"Some people were looking for much faster removals so we brought
in the premium rate fax line. We had to do that because I had to
employ more people to process them and the company can only sustain
that loss for so long," he said.
Banga said that any rulings the company does receive will be
adhered to. "We have been co-operative with the ICO and we are not
in a position to argue with them," he said. "We are not the type of
company to do that. If something is illegal, then we can't do
it."
The ICO's statement said that because of B4U's breaches of the
DPA, "damage or distress to individuals was likely to have been
caused by information being processed in this way". A spokesman
confirmed that this could open the way to a civil case against B4U
for damages, but that no such case had yet been brought.
"I can't comment on whether there will be a case, but all this
information has been readily available for years, this is
information you can find in your local library," said Banga.
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