Dodgy

The government's privatisation of Mighty River power is already turning into a clusterfuck, with a breach of privacy on the first day:

Serious questions are being asked about how a sharebroking firm managed to obtain the details of a woman who'd just registered her interest in buying Mighty River Power shares.

The woman, who wants only to be known as Elizabeth, registered on the 0800 number, and within 15 minutes received an email from Milestone Financial Services, asking to represent her.

RadioLIVE business editor Andrew Patterson says alarm bells should be ringing about how the company obtained the investor's details so it could go phishing for a commission.

The site's privacy policy is very clear in stating that "We do not give your personal information to other organisations for marketing or any other purposes". So they're breaching both it and the Privacy Act. But its worse than that, because there's an obvious financial motive for the broker concerned, and a suspicion that people's private information is being passed on for financial gain. And that's not just unethical - its a crime.

The government needs to get to the bottom of this, and if there has been any corrupt use of official information, it needs to be prosecuted. The sharemarket may work on backhanders and swapping tips, but our government cannot, and the disease must be eradicated.