Vodafone in Privacy Scare

Vodafone Ireland is conducting an investigation after it found customer records had gone missing from a retail store that sold Vodafone subscriptions. The company says that it was notified that thousands of copies of customer contracts were being thrown away by the new occupiers of the retail store. The shop had been operated by the new defunct, Person 2 Person retail, which has denied removing any documentation from the site.

The missing paperwork relates to the period between July 1997 and December 1999, according to the company and contains the private details of their subscribers including their home address and band details.

"A full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the dumping of sensitive information pertaining to Vodafone customers must be carried out immediately," the Labour spokesperson on Communications and the Marine, Deputy Tommy Broughan has said.

"It is absolutely outrageous that people's personal details including bank account information were tossed out into a skip when they should have been stored safely and securely. So not only does Vodafone possess no information on a significant portion of the 70 per cent of its pre-paid customers, it has allowed confidential information to be treated in a haphazard and inconsistent fashion.

"The Labour Party has been asking for the registration of the 70 per cent of pre-paid customers in the Dail and it is a scandal that the privacy of those who have registered has been compromised. This week I called for the mobile phone industry to take responsibility for their networks, the lack of which has been highlighted by the discovery of this confidential information."

Posted to the site on 27th February 2004