No Privacy Right in UK ?

["James M. Cobb" <jcobb@ahcbsd1.ovnet.com>]

                      Cypherpunks assume privacy is a good thing 
                      and wish there were more of it. 
 
                                        --Welcome to cypherpunks 
 
 
 
Friend, 
 
 
11 16 95 The Electronic Telegraph runs a newsstory headed 
 
   Doorstep polish researcher was whiplash injuries spy 
 
 
Here are excerpts from the newsstory: 
 
   Miss [Natalie] Goldner had been hurt when a car in which 
   she was a passenger was hit from behind in April 1988, 
   and she was forced to leave her video library job. 
 
   Shortly after the accident, she started a claim for compen- 
   sation and future loss of earnings against the Royal Insur- 
   ance Company. 
 
   ...Margot Christie...was working for the Hampshire Detec- 
   tive Agency when she went to Miss Goldner's house in Octo- 
   ber 1991. 
 
Christie posed as a market researcher. 
 
   It was only when a compensation claim reached court that 
   Miss Goldner realised the "researcher" was a private de- 
   tective hired to discover the extent of her injuries. 

   In a report which was due to go before the court, Mrs Chris- 
   tie said she had asked Miss Goldner to test some polish 
   and window cleaner. 
   
   [Christie] returned 11 days later.  "I asked the plaintiff 
   if the polish had given a good shine and if she had rubbed 
   hard. The plaintiff said 'Yes I did, it didn't smear at all'." 
 
Natalie lives with her mother. 
 
   "I felt as though we had been burgled.  I felt violated.  We 
   were so worried afterwards that we just didn't trust anyone 
   who turned up at our door. 
 
   "She asked lots of questions about who did the housework 
   in our house.  We were just chatting away and I had no idea 
   she was there to spy on me." 
 
Natalie settled out of court. 
 
   In September, she accepted a 20,000 [pound] settlement after 
   one day of a planned four-day court hearing. 
 
   She is to lodge a complaint with the Association of British 
   Investigators.... 
 
Fortunately, the Daily Telegraph publicized the case.  The news- 
story points out: 
 
   A spokesman for Liberty, the civil rights group, said:  "There 
   is no right to personal privacy in Britain and so it [invasion 
   of privacy by deception] is not against the law." 
 
 
Cordially, 
 
Jim 
 
 
 
NOTE.  The Electronic Telegraph can be accessed at 
 
                 http://www.telegraph.co.uk 
 
 
       The online filename of the above newsstory is: 
 
                        nspys16.html