Cynthia O’Murchu and Helen Warrell report:
The Information Commissioner’s Office is looking into whether companies and individuals broke the law by using private investigators convicted of illegally obtaining private data.
Last week the ICO was given 20 files of material by the Serious Organised Crime Agency relating to four private investigators found guilty of “blagging” information from banks, the UK tax authority, mortgage providers and others.The privacy watchdog will assess whether clients of the four investigators – known to include law firms, insurers and financial services companies – breached the Data Protection Act by using private detectives.
Read more on Financial Times (sub. req.).