Munich - A slip-up in Germany led to residential rolls on half a million people becoming freely accessible on the internet, an investigative programme on German TV said Monday.

The rolls, which list names, dates of birth, marital status and religious affiliation, are normally protected by passwords.

HSH, the company which supplied the software and maintained the databases, admitted Monday that for three months, a non-secret password had applied to rolls kept by
15 local authorities.

The password was in software documentation on the web. After the error was discovered on Friday, new, secret passwords were adopted.

HSH denied a suggestion by the TV programme Report Muenchen that the privacy had been compromised in 200 towns over a period of years. It did not say how many people were listed on the rolls affected.

In Germany it is compulsory for the whole population to register on rolls of residents, which are for official use only.

HSH, which is based near Berlin and specializes in computerizing the rolls, said an error led to the publication on the internet between March 15 and June 20 of the standard password.

It said somebody had used the password to extract data on individuals at four of the local authorities.(dpa)