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”.
The Wikileaks postcode database can be found here.
Related Posts
No related posts.
Original publication by Barry Collins: Source article