Comcast to Pay $33 million for Publishing Unlisted Phone Numbers
Posted by: Timothy Weaver on 09/19/2015 09:15 AM [ Comments ]
According to The Wall Street Journal, Comcast will pay to settle charges of unauthorized disclosure of names, phone numbers and addresses of 75,000 customers who paid for unlisted VoIP telephone service.
Although the customers paid $1.50 per month for anonymity, Comcast released their data during a system upgrade. The data was sold by a data licensing company and published online and in phone books.
Comcast settled the suit by paying $22 million in civil penalties and related costs and paying $8 million to affected customers.
California's Attorney General Kamala Harris called the leak a "troubling breach of privacy."
Under the settlement, the $8 million in restitution will be provided to customers as follows:
• $100 credits (or checks to former customers) for each of the 74,774 affected customers ($7,477,400);
• $432,000 for home security and/or safety-related services for approximately 216 customers with specific and acute safety concerns related to the unauthorized disclosure; and,
• $517,714 in non-published fees collected from former customers whom Comcast had not previously been able to reach.
Source: Consumerist
Comcast settled the suit by paying $22 million in civil penalties and related costs and paying $8 million to affected customers.
California's Attorney General Kamala Harris called the leak a "troubling breach of privacy."
Under the settlement, the $8 million in restitution will be provided to customers as follows:
• $100 credits (or checks to former customers) for each of the 74,774 affected customers ($7,477,400);
• $432,000 for home security and/or safety-related services for approximately 216 customers with specific and acute safety concerns related to the unauthorized disclosure; and,
• $517,714 in non-published fees collected from former customers whom Comcast had not previously been able to reach.
Source: Consumerist
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