Over a million records describing Australians who visited local pubs and clubs have apparently been posted online.
An anonymously published leak site claims the records came from a tech services company called Outabox.
The leak site, which The Register has visited but will not name or link to for legal reasons, offers a search facility that produces info on individuals’ names, partial addresses, and dates of birth – and the venue at which the information was recorded. The Register has verified that the leak site contains info that accurately describe people of our acquaintance.
The venues listed on the leak site are registered clubs - Australian institutions that typically combine a pub, a restaurant, a few slot machines, community and sporting facilities, function centers, and sometimes even a sizable theater.
Clubs enjoy tax exemptions for some food and drink sales to members, as many were founded as community hubs for military veterans. Members therefore sign in to clubs when they visit to prove they are eligible for the discounts on offer. Clubs capture those sign-ins, plus info on visitors, and data required under laws that regulate gambling and aim to make life hard for money-launderers.
In recent years, much of that data has been collected digitally.
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