BBC NEWS
ID theft fear over planning form
A Brighton man fears becoming a victim of identity theft because his
details have been published on the internet by the city council.
Bruce Drew's details were on a planning application which was put on the
web without any information being removed.
A council spokesman said similar details appeared "on every planning
authority's website in the country".
He said the council was checking to confirm its belief that data
protection guidelines were not being breached.
Mr Drew, whose listed building application was for a new kitchen, said
he found the form online - including his telephone number and signature
- two years after it had been submitted.
Such details have been available for decades in paper form
Brighton council statement
He said: "We all spend an awful lot of time trying to make sure we don't
have this information available in all kinds of other places.
"For an organisation like the council to publish this information, I was
very disappointed."
He said he had received unsolicited approaches for business from
builders, architects and window firms.
"It's obvious now where the information has been available from," he said.
And he added: "What concerns me more is what I don't know about at the
moment and may find out about in the future - that they've been able to
gain information and use it in other kinds of ways."
A statement issued by Brighton and Hove City Council said: "We need to
be clear that such details on online planning registers are not peculiar
to Brighton and Hove.
"Similar details will appear on every planning authority's website in
the country, as most planning application forms are similar.
"Such details have been available for decades in paper form for anyone
visiting any council planning departments and this remains the case."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/sussex/7093568.stm
Published: 2007/11/13 20:19:02 GMT
© BBC MMVII
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/sussex/7093568.stm
--
-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-- Unencrypted Email is an insecure communications medium,
-- so be aware that any correspondence may possibly be viewed
-- by others en route.
--
-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-- Robert (Bob) Waixel, MBCS, MCInstM, FHEA
-- Chartered Information Systems Professional
-- RW Systems
-- 4 Manhattan Drive,
-- Cambridge,
-- CB4 1JL, UK tel: +44 (0) 1223 361319
-- email: <[log in to unmask]>
-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-- Emailing from Home (DELL)
-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-- To err is human. To really foul things up ... you need a computer.
-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All archives of messages are stored permanently and are
available to the world wide web community at large at
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/data-protection.html
If you wish to leave this list please send the command
leave data-protection to [log in to unmask]
All user commands can be found at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/commandref.htm
Any queries about sending or receiving messages please send to the list owner
[log in to unmask]
Full help Desk - please email [log in to unmask] describing your needs
To receive these emails in HTML format send the command:
SET data-protection HTML to [log in to unmask]
(all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
