ICO calls for tougher penalties for data trafficking

Christopher Graham says Data Protection Act needs to be updated to curb illegal trade in personal data

Information Commissioner Christopher Graham has called for tougher legislation to crack down on an illegal trade in personal data worth "millions of pounds".

Giving evidence on the "hugely profitable" trade to the Commons Home Affairs Committee, Graham said serious breaches of the Data Protection Act should carry a two-year prison sentence rather than a fine.

Asked by committee chairman Keith Vaz if the illegal profits being made run into millions of pounds, he replied: "Yes".

He warned MPs that existing data protection law has become technologically obsolete because of the way the internet has evolved and that changes were needed so offences are treated more seriously than the equivalent of "stealing office stationery".

He said the law on interception was drafted "for the wire tap age" and "we are now talking about the internet, deep packet inspection and online behavioural advertising".

He said existing law "is very very unclear and very, very uneven" and it was down to himself, the surveillance commissioner and the "interim closed circuit television commissioner" to enforce "a patchwork regime for hacking and blagging and interception".

The committee is investigating the extent of mobile telephone tapping in the wake of the News International apology for the way voicemail messages to some celebrities were intercepted by journalists and a private detective working for the News of the World.