Staff Sells Customers’ Personal Information Illegally, T-Mobile Unaware
Touted as one of the biggest breaches of data protection laws, employees of T-Mobile have been accused of illegally selling customers’ personal information to third party brokers.
The mobile companies like Vodafone, 3,
News regarding the illegal activity first surfaced when T-Mobile alerted the Information Commissioner’s Office - a body that regulates and enforces the availability of and use of classified data. Information commissioner Christopher Graham stated that T-Mobile staff did sell the data to brokers, which was further sold to different phone companies in order to poach customers when their contracts were nearing an expiry.
Mr Graham laid stress on the need for stringent laws to prevent the misuse of information, citing this case as a prime example of the need to do so. He added that his office would prosecute the offenders using the available evidence against them. He also showed his keenness to clamp down on the entire unlawful industry in personal data.
Mr Graham vouched for stricter penalties that would invite imprisonment for the offenders engaging in selling private data to third parties. Currently, the penalty for breach of the data protection act is £5,000.
A spokesperson of T-Mobile has claimed that the company was unaware of the information being sold illegally It’s worth taking a look at broadband help for service provider information and internet safety awareness advice.
