Privacy concerns drive up demand for service addresses

Posted in 'Neighbourhood' by Barry Stamp

02 November 2010

It used to be that only directors of companies like Huntingdon Life Sciences felt the need to keep their home addresses private, but more and more people are taking steps to hide where they live from prying eyes.

In 1994, one in four telephone subscribers were ex-directory. Now the proportion seeking increased privacy is over 40% and is continuing to grow every year.

Since 2003, consumers have had the ability to opt out of having their names and addresses on the version of the Electoral Roll that is sold by local authorities to anyone who asks – known as the 'edited' version. The number of consumers opting out has increased every year since, and now almost 20m of the 45m people who have registered to vote – 43% of the total – have chosen to keep their home addresses more private.

From September 2009, Companies House allowed directors to lodge a service address (one other than their home address) as their contact address for the first time. Many directors have already taken advantage of the facility and the number is increasing monthly.

Website owners also now have options to opt out of having their personal details made available for all to see on the Whois database – and mostly to avoid junk mail and in particular the mailing of misleading re-registration demands that are as close to fraud as is possible without being unlawful, many have either paid their supplier to supply a ‘proxy address’ or have lodged a service address provided by another company.

Having your home address on the Internet is never a good idea. It is now reported that if an insurer is assessing a theft claim where the underlying address is shown on Facebook and where the person has published to all and sundry that he or she is on holiday, then the insurer, understandably, will not pay.

One of the cheapest ways to keep your home address private is to use the services of ScanMyPost. The basic service costs only £11.50 per year, which provides a unique, physical address that can be used instead of a home address. In the event that any post is received at the address, the item is scanned, you are alerted, and you can see what you have received online, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from anywhere in the World. You can arrange for post to be forwarded for a small fee, otherwise it is securely disposed of after 30 days.

When travelling abroad, you can use your ScanMyPost address on luggage tags and when registering at hotels, to reduce the risk of having your house burgled while you are away.

You can’t use a ScanMyPost address for the Electoral Roll – you’ll need to remember to ‘opt out’ of having your details listed on the edited register, but for all other purposes the £11.50 annual cost of ScanMyPost is a very small price to pay to keep your home address out of the public space.

Find out more about ScanMyPost