A computer hacker in Chile has published confidential records belonging to six million people on the internet, officials say.

The information was obtained by hacking into government and military servers, and was posted on a technology blog. It included ID card numbers, addresses, telephone numbers and academic records.

The hacker left a message saying the aim was to demonstrate the poor level of data protection in Chile, says the newspaper which uncovered the story.

El Mercurio newspaper reports that the data came from computer servers at the education ministry, the military and the electoral service.

It was posted on the forum of a Chilean blog dedicated to technology issues, but was quickly removed by site's administrators, who contacted the police.

Links to files containing the information were also posted on another Chilean website, and again promptly removed, El Mercurio reports.

Police commissioner Jaime Jara told the newspaper that an investigation into the incident was under way.