Free Electoral Role?

[Mary M]

My name and address are shown, along with when and how much we bought the house for but our ex directory phone number which we have had for 17 years is not.

[free electoral roll]

I am not paranoid about my identity issues but I avoid giving out any contact details which will show exactly where I live unless I have to and even then the Ts and Cs generally trumpet that they do not use my details for anything - does that mean they are telling porkies and are selling them on to you? How do you get held of ex-directory numbers otherwise? Who is being "compliant" ? Anyone like OC whose number you seem to have, certainly isn't.

Caroline, All the T&C for the major companies that sell consumer data and that sell and provide consent to the major data brokers in the UK have been checked and cleared by the ICO, The major stumbling block in regards to consented data is the reverse search element. The ICO again carried a major investigation over 3 years ago and again confirmed the necessary consents were in order to enable the reverse search of over 115 million landline and mobile telephone data to a full address or reverse search over 75 million UK email addresses again to a person and full address.

The data you see in the free public search is only a fraction of the data available, you should be wary about believing your own data is not within a consented database. The current UK telephone coverage is over 90% of all current connected land line numbers and about 35% of all current mobile numbers , so you may or may not be in the missing element, either way, have a nice Sunday and enjoy your family research.

[free electoral roll]

OC, Not sure what you mean here, perhaps you can explain, we are publishing no telephone data on www.freeelectoralroll.co.uk ?

On the broader subject, the ex directory caveat is of no value in the same way if you opt out of the electoral roll and subsequently supply that information in a "consented format" then you are obviously no longer either ex directory or untraceable via the many public facing websites in the UK that are processing complaint consented records.

Either way the truth is , it makes no difference if you are resident in the UK. For a small fee £ 50 - £150 99.9% of people are traceable in the UK , your only limited defence is to go and live in a Hotel permanently. That is the simple honest fact of life and NO TRACING AGENT will even attempt to waste time and trace you via the electoral roll. The electoral roll is a useless tool for tracing people , only the amateur sleuths use it.

[Olde Crone Holden]

You said that you have access to and can search the 50% of telephone numbers which are ex directory. I don't know whether you have published mine, I haven't looked, it is the PRINCIPLE I object to. My landline number is ex directory for a reason. If I give my EX DIRECTORY phone number to someone like the DWP or the Gas board etc, I do not expect them or you to assume that because I have done so I am happy for it to be published.

Yes, I am aware that if someone is hellbent on tracing me then they can do so but I don't see why I should make it easy for them and I certainly don't see why a third party should make it easy.

OC

[Janet in Yorkshire]

Is the availability of this data a probable source for all these unwanted and unwelcome wretched phone calls most households are bombarded with?

Jay

[Olde Crone Holden]

Jay

Well yes, companies can quite legitimately buy copies of the edited registers or they can buy data from other companies and then use that to phone you. Unfortunately, most of the calls I get on my landline are from automated random diallers outside the UK, who need no database at all in order to contact you.

OC

[Janet in Yorkshire]

Jay

Well yes, companies can quite legitimately buy copies of the edited registers or they can buy data from other companies and then use that to phone you. Unfortunately, most of the calls I get on my landline are from automated random diallers outside the UK, who need no database at all in order to contact you.

OC

But a randomly generated phone number wouldn't give them a corresponding surname as well. Also, the electoral roll register alone wouldn't provide a phone number, surely.

Jay

[free electoral roll]

You said that you have access to and can search the 50% of telephone numbers which are ex directory. I don't know whether you have published mine, I haven't looked, it is the PRINCIPLE I object to. My landline number is ex directory for a reason. If I give my EX DIRECTORY phone number to someone like the DWP or the Gas board etc, I do not expect them or you to assume that because I have done so I am happy for it to be published.

Yes, I am aware that if someone is hellbent on tracing me then they can do so but I don't see why I should make it easy for them and I certainly don't see why a third party should make it easy.

OC

I think you should read carefully what I said previously, you misunderstood the post.

1. The 50% figure is merely the number of people who opt for that caveat (Ex Directory), typical coverage is approx 90% of all current landlines.

2. I never mentioned any data source in any post BUT I can safely say the DWP which is a Govt department have never supplied a telephone number that I am aware of .

[Olde Crone Holden]

Yes, I am definitely not understanding what you are saying.

If 50% of people opt out and go Ex-directory, then how can you have 90% landline coverage? You have presumably collected the other 40% by using other sources. I merely gave the DWP as an example of someone I WOULD give my landline to, a trusted source. I buy very little on line and always look for the privacy clause.

OC

[free electoral roll]

Yes, I am definitely not understanding what you are saying.

If 50% of people opt out and go Ex-directory, then how can you have 90% landline coverage? You have presumably collected the other 40% by using other sources. I merely gave the DWP as an example of someone I WOULD give my landline to, a trusted source. I buy very little on line and always look for the privacy clause.

OC

OCYes, your presumption is correct.

[free electoral roll]

New Features built into Free search results on www.freeelectoralroll.co.uk

I don't suppose anyone has come across this before?

http://www.freeelectoralroll.co.uk/

I've been able to find both Granddad's, both Nanna's, their siblings and their various cousins on it. It's helped me figure out who certain people on the Lennon side are, still can't find their birth which leads me to believe that it's Scottish.

To help you further, we have provided an age feature in the free search results, to provide some guidance. We have also provided confirmation of any known death , that includes deaths to the current year month i.e. Oct 2014

Good Hunting

[free electoral roll]

I've not seen this before, but I think they may be in breach of the Data Protection Act.

If you scroll down the page they are showing 'live searches' with a list of name and town for all recent searches that people have done!

No breach of the act by publishing any or all search results, for there to be a breach you would have had to have revealed:

A. Personal information of the person conducting the search and it is only personal data when that person can be identified.

And of course , the person conducting the search is required to provide consent because they have agreed to T&C`s