Illegal Database of Muscovites’ Incomes on Sale in Russian Capital. A database providing information about the annual income for 2004 of every Muscovite can be found in numerous computer shops across the Russian capital, the Vedomosti business daily reported. A spam letter received by a Vedomosti correspondent last week offered just such a DVD for approximately $100, though the cost is half that at any computer market. Vedomosti employees said their real income matches the information provided by the database, as well as that of Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, published by the mass media earlier this year. Altogether, information about 9.9 million tax-payers from Moscow, including the size of their monthly and annual salary, their employer’s profile and address, can be acquired from the database. According to Russian law, those selling the information and any employees of the Federal Tax Service who may have stolen the information, could face up to five years in prison for disclosing official secrets. The database makes life easier for blackmailers who may decide to target some of the richer people listed on the DVD, the paper stresses. If someone is killed as a result, the prison term for those responsible inside the tax bodies could be up to 10 years. Nevertheless, such information goes on sale every year and the culprits within the Federal Tax Service who steal it have never been caught, because the body’s software is not protected against copying. Also freely available are databases with information on Central Bank transactions and Moscow car owners. "While all the laws to prevent the sale of such information exist in Russia, prosecutors do nothing to make them work," claims the head of the State Duma’s banking committee, Alexander Malis.