Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Phone giant faces inquiry over sale of customer records

sui quotidiani itraliani non la ho vista.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6920143.ece?&EMC-Bltn=D9NG71F
Phone giant faces inquiry over sale of customer records
Philippe Naughton and Richard Ford
A Blackberry mobile handset
(Leon Neal/The Times)
The private details of millions of mobile phone customers, including 
their numbers and addresses, have been sold illegally.
Staff at T-Mobile passed the information to brokers who then sold it to 
rival phone companies. The companies then called customers as their 
contracts were due to expire to offer a better mobile phone deal.
T-Mobile confirmed that it was being investigated for breaching data 
protection rules after Britain’s information watchdog said that an 
unnamed mobile phone company had been involved in the illegal sale of 
customers’ records.
T-Mobile suggested that it was an industry-wide problem, while sources 
said that a single employee, who was now facing prosecution, had been 
responsible. The company is Britain’s fourth-biggest mobile phone 
provider and has 16.6 million customers.
Christopher Graham, the Information Commissioner, said that he wanted to 
close down the “entire unlawful industry in personal data”.
“Many people will have wondered why and how they are being contacted by 
someone they do not know just before their existing phone contract is 
about to expire,” he said. “We are considering the evidence with a view 
to prosecuting those responsible.”
The Government plans to give courts the power to impose jail terms of up 
to two years on those who breach data protection rules. At present, only 
fines can be levied.
Britain is one of the world’s most competitive mobile phone markets. 
There are five network operators and a host of virtual operators, 
including Virgin Mobile and Tesco Mobile, which use capacity from the 
network owners to offer cheap or targeted services.
While the operators have worked hard to reduce “churn” — the rate at 
which customers defect to rivals — thousands of third-party resellers 
still regularly cold-call customers to persuade them to join other 
networks. It is these third-party sellers that pay employees of the 
networks to get customer details and to find out when a subscriber’s 
contract is nearing its end.
Industry sources disputed Mr Graham’s claim that millions of mobile 
phone records had been sold on, suggesting that the real figure was in 
the thousands. However, the Information Commissioner’s Office stood by 
its claim that millions of records were involved and that large sums of 
money had changed hands for the information.
T-Mobile said that it was surprised the details of the investigation had 
been made public, as it had been asked to keep the matter secret to 
avoid prejudicing a possible criminal prosecution.
“T-Mobile takes the protection of customer information seriously. When 
it became apparent that contract renewal information was being passed on 
to third parties without our knowledge, we alerted the Information 
Commissioner’s Office,” said a spokesman for the company.
Mr Graham, who took over as Information Commissioner in the summer, said 
that investigators had been working with T-Mobile after it reported 
suspicions of an unlawful trade in customers’ data.
The team from the Information Commissioner’s Office obtained search 
warrants to enter premises and has also interviewed employees.
Jill Johnstone, director of Consumer Focus, said: “Those responsible for 
trading the personal details of mobile users should face a tough penalty.
“This is a serious incident and shows the need for tighter data security 
among mobile phone providers. Customers at risk should be informed 
immediately and put on alert about marketing calls.”
Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat’s Home Affairs spokesman, said: “This 
shameful incident shows the disdain with which some companies treat 
sensitive personal data. Stiffer penalties for those involved in serious 
data breaches, whether in the public or private sector, cannot be 
introduced soon enough.”

 sui quotidiani itraliani non la ho vista.
Beh, non mi sorprende, non credo che T-Mobile operi in Italia.
Immagino che la notizia sia piu' interessante per il pubblico inglese