A former recruitment consultant has been prosecuted for the offence of unlawfully obtaining/disclosing the personal data of clients under section 55 of the Data Protection Act 1998. The defendant emailed the details of over 100 clients to her personal email account before moving to a new job at a rival recruitment company. The nowformer recruitment consultant was fined £200 and ordered to pay £214 in prosecution costs, in addition to a £30 victim surcharge. The Information Commissioner’s Office has subsequently issued a warning that it is against the law to take clients’ personal information when moving to a new company, whether it is for your own benefit or for the benefit of your new employer.