UK Parliament / Open data

Consumer Rights Bill

Proceeding contribution from Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat) in the House of Commons on Monday, 12 January 2015. It occurred during Debate on bills on Consumer Rights Bill.

I recognise the attempts made in that amendment, although they do not address all the difficulties that I have outlined. Many people who are unable to attend an event at short notice will find that they have another friend who is happy to go along to it with them, but others will not, so they will use online marketplaces, in which case these issues will apply.

One of the main difficulties with the Lords amendment is that it would require sellers to provide their name. That should raise concerns, because it would include private individuals who could be young people or vulnerable consumers. Perhaps a 14-year-old One Direction fan who is unable to attend the concert she has bought tickets for will want to resell them, and in doing so would have to provide her name online. This is a concern not about ticket sales but about things such as identity theft and the difficulties involved when private individuals have to place their names online. There were over 100,000 reports of ID fraud in 2013, and we do not want to support proposals that could—albeit inadvertently —push that number higher.

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
590 c659 
Session
2014-15
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
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