The case is related to and follows the successful prosecution of private detective David Sibley last month.
Sibley and David William Schumacker were prosecuted by the data protection watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), after obtaining information for a solicitor’s firm in respect of an insurance claim.
The firm had instructed Sibley to investigate the person making the claim. He had instructed an unidentified third party, who in turn had instructed Schumacker, who then had unlawfully obtained personal account information after making calls to the claimant’s elderly mother and to two of his banks.
Such acts are in breach of the 1998 Data Protection Act, which makes it an offence “knowingly or recklessly, without the consent of the data controller, to obtain or disclose personal data.”
Schumacker has now been fined £500, together with costs. Sibley has already been given a one-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of £1200.
The solicitor’s firm, which brought the matter to the attention of the ICO once it realised the information had been obtained illegally, was not prosecuted.
“This is a good result which sends a clear message to anyone involved in the business of obtaining or disclosing personal information by unlawful means,” said Philip Taylor, solicitor for the ICO. “This is a serious offence, and these two successful convictions show that the courts recognise that and will convict those who knowingly breach the Data Protection Act in this way.”
“The Data Protection Act is there for a reason – to protect the rights of individuals and in particular their rights to privacy. People have a right to know that their personal information is secure, accurate, up-to-date and is being processed fairly,” he added.
