UK postcode database leaks online
By Barry Collins
Posted on 16 Sep 2009 at 13:50
A database claiming to contain all of the UK's 1.8m postcodes - and their precise geographical location - has been leaked online.
The infamous Wikileaks site has published the database, which it claims was updated as recently as 8 July.
The information is stored as a plain text file that includes comma separated data such as grid references, wards and NHS region.
The Royal Mail has long rebuffed calls from freedom of information campaigners to make the full postcode database freely available. It made £1.6m from licensing the database in 2007, according to a report in The Guardian.
Campaigners argue the database should be made freely available to encourage businesses to develop services around the data, which has been compiled at the taxpayers' expense. Now it appears Wikileaks may have done the job for them, although it's far from clear what the legal implications of using such data would be.
A spokesperson for the Royal Mail said the database is "similar to something we provide" and that the company is "looking into it".
From around the web
Hi,
We work with uk postcode data quite a bit and so know something of the licensing.
As we understand it, the user never owns the data, they only ever license the rights to use it within terms for a given period of time.
Whoever put the data online has done the equivalent of putting a video on a pirate site.
Even if you access this data and download it, you are using it illegally unless licensed.
For the same reason, it wouldn't be legal to pay someone to record the results that come out of one of the thousands of sites producing possible addresses from a postcode search.
By andy_comment on 16 Sep 2009 ![]()
Oh the Irony!
If you download data about the taxpayer, paid for by the taxpayer, a private company that didn't pay anything for it and has a monopoly on that data, can sue you because you didn't get a license from them!
Does anyone else think this is insane?
This data should have been made public domain from the day Royal Mail was privatised.
By cheysuli on 16 Sep 2009 ![]()
David
Who cares. I've downloaded it and will be using in my web applications. Thank you very much!
By lemonlainey on 16 Sep 2009 ![]()
Million or Billion
Judging by the price I pay to license this every year, I think the Post Office would have made more than 1.6 million in 2007.
By iwilson on 16 Sep 2009 ![]()
So, all we need now is the list of street address that go with the postcode and we're done.. Goodbye to useless Royal Mail. Talking of which, where's my post you little b***ds!
By lemonlainey on 16 Sep 2009 ![]()
Icing on the cake
Hey cheysuli, just to wind you up a little bit more you're other Guardian readers' favourite the Ordnance Survey provide the co-ordinates and it's actually their product that's been uploaded.
By andy_comment on 17 Sep 2009 ![]()
Perhaps the public can build it
Why not help in these efforts to get an public made database:
postcodedb.sourceforge.net/index.php
and
freethepostcode.org
By treadmill on 12 Feb 2010 ![]()
advertisement
- Laptop bag reviews: nine tested
- Sony VAIO T Series Ultrabook review: first look
- Revealed: the military standards and robots HP uses to test its laptops
- Windows 8: multi-monitors and double standards?
- Why is TalkTalk's year-old porn filter suddenly big news?
- Why are laptop screens so far behind mobiles?
- HP EliteBook Folio review: first look
- The shoebox-sized all-in-one printer
- Forget the Ultrabook: here comes the HP Sleekbook
- HP Spectre XT review: first look
- Why you have to be left in the dark on OS patches
- Publishing your email address isn't a security disaster
- Why antivirus is fighting a losing battle in your office
- Four year olds used to steal their parents' data
- An acceptable use policy for your kids
- Paying for your crimes with Bitcoin
- Pavement hacking: What it is and how to avoid it
- Google's risky pre-loaded pages
- Mac under attack: how secure is Apple's OS?
- Has your browser been hijacked?
advertisement
