The Guardian reports about a new daughter-company of the UK Supermarket chain Tesco, that is selling very detailed information about every household and every person in the UK to the highest bidder. The database called Crucible contains "A map of personality, travel habits, shopping preferences and even how charitable and eco-friendly you are." And even if you don't shop at Tesco's, by combining data about for example magazine subscriptions from other sources such as Experian, Claritas and Equifax, the company has, in its own words collected a "massive pool" of consumer data. The company also uses government information, such as the electoral roll, which contains names, ages and housing information.

The two reporters from the Guardian started with an information request, on data collected by the company through the Clubcard (the Tesco loyalty system). Only after a 4 months battle and a formal appeal to the Information Commissioner a reporter got her personal data. Though she provided as little information about herself as possible when applying for the Club Card, after 1 year Tesco had 2 pages of information on her and her specific shopping behaviour.

Tesco said its Clubcard was completely compliant with the data protection act and Tesco itself did not sell data about individual shoppers to third parties, only on an aggregated level.

Tesco stocks up on inside knowledge of shoppers' lives (20.09.2005)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1573821,00.html