General Discussion

I just contacted 192.com to get my name removed from it because it was showing me as occupying the same address as my neighbours, being a block of flats. I didn't want to be on there anyway.

Just to let you know, they get their data about you from:

* The UK Electoral Roll (Full 2002 and the Edited Version 2003 – 2011)
* The OSIS database (full listing of UK telephone numbers, not including ex directory)
* Business and Director Reports (provided by Dun&Bradstreet)
* Business Listings (provided by MarketLocation)
* Land Registry data (© Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of Land Registry.)

So even if you are ex directory you could still be on there. Apparantly you can opt out by ticking a box on the Electoral Roll although I did not pay too much attention to it when I filled it in.

I find all this easy access to personal information quite worrying.

I just tried that myself but couldn't view the data without registering and paying for credits. Thankfully I was savvy enough to read the small print on the electoral register and made sure I ticked all the right boxes to ensure that my details weren't forwarded to anyone. Thanks for the heads up Steve.

There are 2 versions of the Electoral roll, one is sold to companies so they have the addresses of all those people but being on that list is optional, by ticking the relevant box your name and details are excluded from the Electoral Roll which is available for sale.

You need to read everything these days, I subscribe to a lot of online stuff and many by default tell you your details will be passed on to various third parties UNLESS you 'untick' various boxes, some by 'ticking' the boxes better to read the info very carefully before clicking submit.
When a site does not allow an opt-out I 'opt-out' by cancelling the process.
I bounce emails I don't want and legit companies usually remove those addresses from their list, some are removed automatically from bounced emails, but never click the unsubscribe link, that just confirms you exist and ensures even more spam.

I think the world's biggest lie these days is ticking the box that says "I have read and understood the terms and conditions"

To be honest, I think it is quite bad that the government sells on your personal information per se, let alone by default.

Definately, I worked in a jobcentre and was not allowed to give information about job vacancies to a spouse due to Data Protection, the person requesting the information had to contact me.
Totally ridiculous, then the govt sells personal information to anyone for money and that doesn't contravene the Data Protection Act!!!!

The Data Protection Act is an interesting one. Where I work we have to take it very seriously as we deal with personal data all the time. E.g. How do you know the spouse is still with their other half? You don't, and when dealing with money it's imperative that you're certain.