ICO repeats call for stronger sentences for data thieves

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has reiterated its call for stronger sentencing powers for people convicted of stealing personal data.

Commissioner Christopher Graham said: 'Nuisance call cowboys and claims market crooks will pay people to steal personal data. The fines that courts are issuing at the moment just don't do enough to discourage would-be data thieves.'

The comments come as an employee of a car rental company was sentenced for stealing customer information that accident claims companies could use to make nuisance calls.

Sindy Nagra, 42, from Hayes, sold almost 28,000 customers' records for £5,000.

Appearing at Isleworth Crown Court, she was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay a £100 victim surcharge and £864.40 prosecution costs.

Nagra was an administrative assistant at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and responsible for processing customer details sent by an insurance company.

The records, typically of people who had been involved in road traffic collisions, included details of the policyholder as well as details of their insurance claim.

Enterprise contacted the ICO after discovering that Nagra was looking at a large number of records. An investigation found Nagra had photographed the records while they were on her computer screen.

Nagra pleaded guilty to unlawfully obtaining, disclosing, and selling personal data under section 55 of the Data Protection Act. Courts can issue unlimited fines for the offence, but not custodial sentences.

Commenting on the sentence, Graham said: 'This fine highlights the limited options the courts have. Sindy Nagra got £5,000 in cash in return for stealing thousands of people's information.

'She lost her job when she was caught, and has no money to pay a fine, and the courts have to reflect that. But we'd like to see the courts given more options: suspended sentences, community service, and even prison in the most serious cases.'

With increased concern over the security of data, Graham said it was now more important than ever for the courts to have more effective deterrent penalties than just fines at their disposal.

'People who break the criminal law by trading in other people's personal information need to know that they will be severely punished and could even go to prison,' he commented.

'We've been pushing for this for some time. Parliament voted for it to happen more than seven years ago but it remains on a Westminster backburner. It is high time that changed.'