Vodacom calms privacy concerns
A recent online discussion raised concerns about user privacy on the Vodacom4me website.
According to subscriber feedback a banner advert URL contains a redirect to the advertiser – in this case Dialdirect – and the mobile number of the Vodacom4me user. (196.35.231.28/Marbil/Services/forward.aspx?tx=A1237204673&type=1&url=http://www.dialdirect.co.za/equote.asp?vdn=5616&usr=082*******)
This was not well received by some Vodacom customers, who said that it is not only a breach of their privacy but may also be a breach of Vodacom’s own privacy policy. The main concern was that the mobile number is passed on to the advertiser without the user’s consent.
Terms and conditions
In its Terms and Conditions Vodacom clearly states that it has “implemented technology, policies and processes aimed at protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of your personal information.”
The provider guarantees users that “Vodacom does not distribute any of your personal information to third parties; unless it's required to deliver the products or services requested by you.”
Customer feedback
“I consider my Cellphone number to be personal information, and personally identifiable data. Vodacom4me is breaching its privacy policy by forwarding personally identifiable data (my number) to third parties. In the context of the Privacy Policy, Vodacom4me is directly responsible for the safekeeping of my cell number,” said one subscriber.
“Passing along the cellphone number of any customer that happens to click on one of Vodacom4me’s banner advertisements without their consent, is in my view, a breach of the site's privacy policy,” he pointed out.
Vodacom however stated that no private information is actually passed on to the advertiser. “The link passes to a Vodacom server in the Vodacom domain as part of the Vodacom4me architecture,” Vodacom said.
“Basically the data is logged internally to give feedback on the efficiency of the ads…but the advertiser never sees the cell numbers. 100% guaranteed,” Vodacom pointed out.
The fact that the data – which includes users’ cellular numbers –is forwarded to an ad server hosted outside Vodacom’s data centre and operated by a third party was still of concern to some.
Vodacom however said that the company handling the data is contracted to Vodacom under a non-disclosure agreement, and that the servers in question will be moving into the physical Vodacom structure soon.
Apart from the main concern of protecting subscriber information from third party advertisers, the issue of customer profiling raises its head. By logging user behaviour Vodacom is building a profile attached to a mobile number. This will then allow them to potentially serve more targeted advertising and even SMS campaigns to the user.
This harvesting of behavioral information is not new in the online space, and is often met with resistance from subscribers. It is however not a blatant breach of privacy and is used by various companies to maximize value to advertisers.
Vodacom confirmed that more targeted advertising is the ‘intention with the architecture’, but pointed out that only the number of clicks is currently counted.
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