The publication occurred on Italy's tax service website and was
done by Romano Prodi's outgoing government just days before leaving
office. The information was available for 24 hours but was taken
down after outraged criticism and an official complaint from
Italy's privacy watchdog.
ADOC, the Italian consumer protection agency, said that the
release of the information was not only illegal but put citizens in
danger.
"It's a clear violation of privacy law," it told news agency
Reuters. "There is a danger for an increase in crime and violence
as the data are an irresistible source for criminals."
The UK Government has been heavily criticised in recent months
because of a series of data security lapses involving the loss of
data belonging to 25 million child welfare payment recipients as
well as members of the armed forces and applicants for driving
licences.
All the incidents were accidental, though, and none compares to
the Italian government's decision to publish such a massive amount
of such sensitive information.
The then-government was unrepentant in the aftermath of the
publication of the information 10 days ago. "It's all about
transparency and democracy. I don't see the problem," deputy
economic minister Vincenzo Visco told Italian newspaper Corriere
della Sera.
Visco said that the move was in line with laws from the 1970s
which allow people to look up tax records at municipal offices.
Italy's data protection commissioner Francesco Pizzetti agreed
with ADOC that the fact that the data will probably always now be
available was dangerous. "It's one thing to make data available in
response to precise requests, another to publish it in this way,"
he told journalists.
Though the official site no longer carries the records, many
people downloaded huge chunks of the data, which consisted of 38
million tax returns from 2005. Files claiming to be tax records are
being traded on file-sharing services.
Prodi's government claimed that the move was designed to improve
earnings transparency in a country which reportedly struggles with
tax evasion.
A report from the govermnent last year said that the sum lost to
tax evasion is equivalent to 7% of Italy's gross domestic
product.
