Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, made the call for prison sentences last week, saying he was deeply concerned at the ease with which information can be improperly obtained from public and private organisations.
He published the findings in a report being presented to Parliament called "What price privacy?". It highlights the existence of an industry illegally selling information such as people's addresses, car-ownership details, ex-directory phone numbers, criminal records and bank account details.
Tony Lamb, chairman of the DMA Data Council and technical development director at Wegener, said: "We absolutely support this. One of the key things is that the legislation in place is not properly enforced.
"DMA members comply with requirements but other companies only pay lip service or act with total disregard. There has to be a level of enforcement otherwise people can't see the point of complying."
Legitimate data companies are not the target of the report. Instead, the report says that private investigators and tracing agents are the main suppliers.
The information is often obtained either through payments to staff who have access to it or by impersonating the individual who is being targeted, or an official.
Among the darker uses of the information is from journalists wanting to expose celebrities and criminals intent on fraud and witness or juror intimidation.
Other frequent purchasers of such information are financial institutions and local authorities wanting to trace debtors. Estranged spouses also seek the information to track down their former partners.
Data company Equifax welcomed the report, saying it was concerned that the controls were not stringent enough.
Equifax said: "In particular, we have been concerned that the UK public could lose confidence in those channels that have been approved by the Information Commissioner and adhere to the Data Protection Act 1998."
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .