A former employee who left his job, taking information about previous clients with him in breach of the Data Protection Act 1998, has been prosecuted and fined £300. The ICO have reported that a former employee, Mr Lloyd, emailed the details of 957 clients to his personal email address as he was leaving to start a new role at a rival company. The documents contained personal information including the contact details and purchase history of customers and commercially sensitive information. Mr Lloyd pleaded guilty to unlawfully obtaining data under S.55 of the Data Protection Act 1998 and was fined £300, ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £30 and £405.98 costs. The ICO point out that employees need to be aware that documents containing personal data they have produced or worked on belong to their employer and are not theirs to take with them when they leave.

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