Invasion of privacy: Australian disclosure

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32614, 24 May 1971, Page 15

Invasion of privacy: Australian disclosure

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) SYDNEY, May 23. Confidential information on people’s bank accounts, private insurance and dealings with credit companies is being leaked from Government and company files and sold to private inquiry firms, according to the “Sunday Australian.”

It says that these firms also offer to obtain criminal records and fingerprints from the police for a fee. In a front-page story, it quotes a Sydney inquiry agent as saying: “If a fact has been documented, it is accessible for a price. It is a fact of life in the security business.”

The paper says that it asked one inquiry company for details of the driving licence of a member of its staff, and this was provided within an hour, correct in every way. It then asked the company for a dossier on the news editor of the “Sunday Australian,” including a bank statement, home purchase facts, licence and car owner-

ship details, and his unlisted telephone number. “Within 12 hours a dossier was provided, giving his trading bank account number and statement, the history of his home purchase, his driving record and the required telephone number,” the newspaper says.

Most information it says, is being obtained through employees of public service departments, department investigators and clever confidence tricks.

The paper gives a series of prices. Details of a man’s life insurance, it says would cost about $3O and of his driving record or unlisted telephone number, about $2O. Full details of a bank statement cost $5O.