COUNCILS have been accused of behaving unethically after making thousands of pounds selling the personal details of voters.
Brighton and Hove City Council and Worthing Borough Council have made around £10,000 selling electoral roll information to private firms since 2012.
The councils sell two sets of registers containing voters’ information – the full and edited versions.
The full register includes details of every city resident who has registered to vote, which councils are obliged by law to sell to credit reference agencies.
The ‘edited’ or open register omits details of residents who have proactively told the council they do not want their details sold on.
But for those who have not specified, their information is up for sale to anyone willing to buy it, including marketing companies.
Privacy pressure group Big Brother Watch, which recently revealed councils up and down the UK made more than £250,000 in a year selling on residents’ details, warned that selling on voters’ information undermined trust and deterred people from taking to the polls.
Junk mail campaigner Robert Rajkhoff, of stopjunkmail.org.uk, told The Argus councils were acting “unethically” by continuing to sell the open register.
He said: “It is unethical and there is the argument that it deters people from voting because there’s a chance they’ll then be bombarded with cold calls and junk mail from companies who have purchased the register.
“If I buy an item from a shop, the shop cannot just sell my details on without my permission.
“That’s what’s happening here with local authorities. The Electoral Commission and the Information Commissioner’s Office both want it gone – but government insist on keeping it.”
Brighton and Hove City Council, which has made at least £5,000 selling the full and open registers since October 2012, told The Argus its edited register was not marketed and was only sold on request.
A council spokesman said: “People can choose to opt out of the edited register when submitting their voter information so their details will not be listed in the edited version.
“Edited registers across the country can be bought by any person, business or organisation. In Brighton and Hove, very few applications are received to access the edited register.”
Similarly in Worthing, the council has made around £5,500 since 2012 selling on data.
Despite saying there should not be an open register, The Electoral Commission told The Argus its existence should not put people off voting.
A spokesman said: “The commission does not think that there should be an open register, but if there must be one then it should be an ‘opt in’ process instead. It is up to UK Parliament to make any changes to the system as it currently stands.
“However this shouldn’t put people off from registering to vote and we would strongly urge everyone to make sure that they are registered so that they are able to take part in elections.”
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