Grrrrrrrrr! My network sold my information

MagicBoy · 17 Nov 2009 at 18:22

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! :mad:

So it turns out it was employees of my mobile phone provider that sold my data off to the unscrupulous, rude and downright abusive cold calling centres.

I'm sorely tempted to take a trip to the Orange store and get myself an iPhone.

Berserker · 17 Nov 2009 at 18:55

I wouldn't be surprised if this has happened to other operators as well - especially those who have call centres or back office operations outside the UK (which probably accounts for all of them). T-mobile happened to be the one that got caught.

There have been many such information disclosures over the years - whether that be lost CDs, external security breaches, or inside jobs/help (either through deliberate act or social engineering). Most of them go unreported or are quietly hushed away on a bad news day.

J1nxy · 17 Nov 2009 at 19:10

Might explain why somebody phoned my number (which has been ported twice, t-mobile->vodaphone->o2) telling me my contarct on t-mobile was due to expire and that did I want to renew with them.

mrgubby · 17 Nov 2009 at 19:22

When my T-Mobile contract was due I had calls from another company who had all my contract / phone details. I contacted T-Mobile & asked them why they'd given my details to a third party.

They denied it

I might have to contact wewillclaimforanythinglawyersforyou and sue for emotional damage

MagicBoy · 17 Nov 2009 at 19:37

I'm doubly annoyed as
1) I've got a mate who works for the company, so I get discounted line rental. I've been with them for many years - it's almost like betrayal.
2) I actually phoned the operator to complain about unsolicited phone calls this time last year and they said there was nothing they can do.

It started the year after I got an in-store upgrade from Carphone Warehouse, I always figured it was them. I was mistaken.

Dolph · 17 Nov 2009 at 19:37

mrgubby said:
When my T-Mobile contract was due I had calls from another company who had all my contract / phone details. I contacted T-Mobile & asked them why they'd given my details to a third party.

They denied it

I might have to contact wewillclaimforanythinglawyersforyou and sue for emotional damage

That would be because, as the news articles have said, it was employees doing it without their employers knowledge and making money themselves, not the network doing it...

Stev · 17 Nov 2009 at 20:23

Can I use this to cancel my contract? stating that they broke data protection laws? and that I have no confidence in them?

mrgubby · 17 Nov 2009 at 21:31

Dolph said:
That would be because, as the news articles have said, it was employees doing it without their employers knowledge and making money themselves, not the network doing it...

It was the way that they blamed it on me that annoyed me the most, apparently I must have told the other company all my details :confused:

KennyBhoy · 17 Nov 2009 at 22:28

Stev said:
Can I use this to cancel my contract? stating that they broke data protection laws? and that I have no confidence in them?

I'm wondering the same?

Dolph · 17 Nov 2009 at 23:19

Stev said:
Can I use this to cancel my contract? stating that they broke data protection laws? and that I have no confidence in them?

I doubt it, because the company that you have the contract with did not break data protection laws, the individual employees (in direct opposition to company policy) did, and it is the individuals who are being prosecuted as such.

DoubleCheese · 18 Nov 2009 at 00:09

Dolph said:
I doubt it, because the company that you have the contract with did not break data protection laws, the individual employees (in direct opposition to company policy) did, and it is the individuals who are being prosecuted as such.

Are the employees of the company not agents of it too, therefore representing the company?

Dolph · 18 Nov 2009 at 00:13

DoubleCheese said:
Are the employees of the company not agents of it too, therefore representing the company?

It was the company that involved the information commissioner in the first place. The representative idea only works where the company has explicitly or implicitly approved of/done nothing to prevent the behaviour. That certainly isn't the case here.

MagicBoy · 18 Nov 2009 at 00:42

I suspect the employees are long gone and out of reach. On a beach in the Bahama's if they've any sense!

Christo · 18 Nov 2009 at 01:42

Dolph said:
It was the company that involved the information commissioner in the first place. The representative idea only works where the company has explicitly or implicitly approved of/done nothing to prevent the behaviour. That certainly isn't the case here.

Well that all depends on whether or not Tmobile had the correct data controls in place. Whether or not they carried out the correct duty of care over the data. Tmobile will have some responsibility over this.

Dimension · 18 Nov 2009 at 07:28

it sound like they did not have the correct controls in place.

Customer databases should be encrypted, this should be standard practice and needs to be enforced by law, only then will situations like this stop.

You would not believe the number of companies that store our credit card and contact details in excel spreadsheets without passwords. I've even seen them stored on their computers with no firewall and no AV

I am a T mobile customer, I have had several calls from other companies Mobile phones direct seem to have purchases their customer db, they've called me twice! I will be calling them today to get out of my contract. Not just for this but because the lack of network coverage where I live, and their useless support desk.

Dolph · 18 Nov 2009 at 08:04

Even if you encrypt the database, you have to expose the customer's information to employees at points, such as customer service when someone calls in. It would be relatively trivial for a small group of people in an organisation to datamine large quantities of information in a relatively small time in ways that encryption would do nothing to stop, especially if the only information provided is mobile number, customer name, contract end date...

Paramount · 18 Nov 2009 at 21:59

You also know that theres a public list available of all recently registered mobile numbers and the networks they're registered to? Cold caller groups take the numbers and dial them randomly 12 or 18 months after theyve been registered (12 or 18 months being the most common time for a contract to last), thats how they know your contract is about to be up.