GUANGZHOU: A man was sentenced to a year and a half behind bars in the country's first-known case of violating the security of personal information on Sunday, local media reported yesterday.

Zhou Jianping, a resident of Zhuhai, Guangdong province, set up a private investigation company in the provincial capital Guangzhou two years ago and sold personal information like phone numbers and call history records.

The Zhuhai Xiangzhou district court found Zhou guilty of "illegally obtaining phone numbers of 14 top government officials" a month after his company was established in November 2008.