Registered to Vote? You Could Become a Victim.

Like the majority of the adult population of the UK, I am registered to vote. However, I recently found that voting was not all I registered for after I became the victim of a crime. I have also found out that I am not the only person in this situation and that potentially any person who is registered to vote in the UK risks being a victim of crime too.

My Story

I was chatting with a friend online about music I write. He used google to search my name to see if anything came up.

It was not just my music he found. He alerted me to a site hosted by a right wing homophobic campaign group who had published a list of people, including me, giving details of their:

• Names
• DOBs
• Addresses
• Partner's Names
• Partner's DOBs
• A list of purchases which suggested they were "gay".

The site included this message: "We do not condone violence, but these are households where homosexuals live".

I did some digging and found out this group had bought databases legally from a company which had purchased the edited electoral registers from my local authority and included this in the suite of databases. It was this register where both mine and my partner's personal details came from. Another of the databases was a "customer profiling" database which gave examples of purchases made by households for marketing purposes. This group they sold the information to simply put the databases together.

An important point to make here is that both my partner and I had ticked the box on the electoral register form asking us to be excluded from the edited register. Hence our details should never have appeared.

4 days later, my partner and I were followed to a petrol station. Whilst my partner was inside paying, the man who had followed us got out of his car and started punching the window of the car where I was sat whilst screaming “fucking puff” and a load of other similar comments. When he saw my partner had paid , this man went back to his car like nothing had happened.

The police have arrested the guy who did this and tracked and taken down the website where my details were published. The guy, who admitted the crime, was given a caution.

Whilst I cannot confirm that the two incidents are related, it is a strange coincidence indeed.

Other Crimes

My example is not isolated. There are a number of people who are in the same situation.

For instance, I have found out that a company which published the edited electoral register online published details of a victim of domestic violence. This person had been moved to this authority as a way to escape her husband who was (and still is) threatening to kill her. Her husband has found her as a result and she has had to be moved again.

Another company which published the edited electoral register online has included details of people who were actually moved for police protection. 2 weeks ago, it was revealed in the media that a similar data breach had lead to the attempted murder of someone.

Finally, there are a large number of people who have been victims of identity theft where it is believed the personal information used came from the electoral registers.

The Government's Stance

The local authority says they are only obeying the Representation of the Peoples Regulations 2001. They also say that they are audited to ensure that at least 95% of records are accurately recorded - this potentially means, for up to 5% of people, that they are potentially passing on details without our consent.

Note, however, that inaccurate recording, sharing details without consent and sharing details which could be used to "harm" someone are all breaches of a different law - the Data Protection Act 1998.

Both the current and previous Governments promised to review the Representation of the Peoples Regulations 2001 based on concerns raised by:

• The public
• The Electoral Commission
• The Information Commissioner's Officer
• The Association of Electoral Administrators and
• Various Police Authorities.

The promised review was put on hold during the general election and as yet is still to recommence.

I'm not exactly sure what my MP's stance is. I get very short emails and it's usually just

forwarding responses that she's had from the local authority.

Yet, I have had support from a local councillor who is concerned about what has happened.

I have had an interesting response from the Electoral Commission who have asked for my concerns to be investigated.

What you can do about it

You may be wondering if there is anything you can do about it. The answer is yes, but it is going to need people to pull together and let the powers that be know that we need a change in legislation to prevent our information being passed on this way and in doing so prevent more people becoming victims of crime.

Firstly, if you are concerned that your details have been passed on you can check. All you do is go to http://www.192.com/ and search for your name. If you find your details, then your details have been passed on.

There is a petition at http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/29295. You can sign this and pass this on to friends, family and colleagues.

You can also post a link to this blog to your friends, family and colleagues on any of the social networking sites. The wider we all circulate this the better.

You could write to your councillor, MP, and local authority and ask them how they can assure you that your details have not been misused and how you would be protected if they have.

I don't recommend this lightly, but if you are concerned you could ask to be removed from the electoral register. Bear in mind however, if you do this, you won't be able to vote or get credit. However, if that is the only way you can feel safe, then do it - but tell your councillor, MP and local authority why you are doing it first.