Petition Sale of personal data

Since the advent of computing and the internet we entrust our personal infromation to an ever growing number of companies, institutions, employers and government departments. As anyone with an email account will know, this information is valuable, and is often indiscriminately sold on resulting in 'spam'.
I feel strongly that if my personal data has become a commodity then I should be the one who benefits from its sale, and I should be the one who chooses to whom it is sold.
This problem has recently been highlighted in the case of insurance companies selling accident victims information to claims management companies, resulting in an explosion of claims and rising car insurance.
I would like to see legislation making it expressly illegal for any company or organisation to share my personal data without my permission under any circumstances.