T-Mobile Are Also Victims, Says Legal Practitioner
Field Fisher Waterhouse, one of the reputed Law Firms in London, today said that their client T-Mobile has fallen prey to a rogue employee.
Stewart Room, who is the data security partner of the firm, informed that the T-Mobile acted impeccably in the situation. At a very early stage, they passed on the details of the data breach to the Information Commissioner. This must be reflected on how the network has to be dealt with during the trial.
Room said that at this moment, it is quite difficult to come to a conclusion that T-Mobile has failed in their obligation for Data Protection Act. According to Room, there might be determined criminal involved in their offense and it is often difficult to detect them in such a large organization.
He added that there is a possibility about the Information Commissioner taking tough actions against the organization. However, it would be quite a rough action against such a reputed company.
He continued saying that if you go by the news, T-Mobile has been behaving impeccably and a regulatory regime should reward it rather than take action against the same. They should remember, prior to giving the verdict, that not only the customers, but the company is also the victim of the criminal offense that its employee has conducted.
As a suggestion to all the companies, Room said that everyone should opt for adopting an adequate number of measures for keeping their data secure. They should take steps for assessing the performance and reliability of the people, who are working on the data. This is how another issue, similar to the one T-Mobile finds itself in, can be avoided.
T-Mobile Formally Announces Theft of Information
Theft is not the exact word used by T-Mobile as their customer records were “illegally sold” to unknown parties. With the information itself still readily available within T-Mobile’s information servers, nothing has been technically stolen. But accessing said information and selling it to a third party is equally illegal. With information on consumer contact numbers and contract details, the buyers of this information hold quite a potential cache of customers as they are able to isolate and target consumers whose plans are about to end. Being able to prey on consumers who are most likely to get a new plan gives sellers and an excellent vantage point as they would not have to randomly look for likely customers.
According to BBC news, millions of records have been passed from T-Mobile. T-Mobile itself denies warranting any such actions and is currently in the process of investigating the internal perpetrators for prosecution. This is highly acceptable as T-Mobile has nothing to gain from selling customer data. While this may be big news in the fact that it has been confirmed by a telecomm company, the trade and purchase of customer information appears to run rampant across different carriers.
T-Mobile has made a report to the Information Commissioner’s Office and from what has been released to the public, they claim that the “information has been sold on different brokers and that substantial amounts of money have changed hands”.
The end result of these ‘crimes’ is that customers are the end victims, often being pestered by what is termed as “cold calling”; wherein they are directly contacted one their phones and greeted by their name by individual who should otherwise not have access to such relevant information and data.
While it is estimated that individual data does not sell for much, in bulk, the gross profit for selling information on what could be thousands of customers will net a substantial amount.
T-Mobile myTouch 3G
It’s not even been 6 months since the first ever Android phone to hit the US market, T-Mobile G1, and now we have another Android based smartphone in the form of the T-Mobile myTouch 3G, which has been made by HTC exclusively for t-Mobile. The T-Mobile myTouch 3G is quite similar to the G1 when looking at the features set, though it is very much slimmer, something that has been well received by many reviewers, including us. There is also no physical QWERTY keyboard, meaning that you will have to manage with the virtual keyboard. The Android 1.5 Cupcake is what runs this smartphone.
The best part of this T-Mobile myTouch 3G is, by far, the super slim body of the phone. Though it is made of plastic, it does have a glossy feel, although we do miss the posh material that was used in the G1. Surprisingly, even the screen is made of plastic, something that we are surprised by, considering that we expected it to be made from glass! Nevertheless, the phone’s build is very solid and feels good in the hand.
The buttons located under the screen are of a good size with the trackball residing in between the keys. The phone makes use of a 3.2 megapixel camera but, sadly, doesn’t have flash. The microSD memory card slot is located under the battery cover but is not under the battery itself, meaning that you won’t have to remove the battery in order to remove the memory card.
Looking at the virtual keyboard, it is nigh impossible to use it in portrait mode due to its cramped nature, so you’ll be better off using it in landscape mode. Navigating through the phone was perfectly fine. Concluding the review, the phone has a large number of features that were found in the G1, but the virtual keyboard as well as the slim body are definite plusses!
T-Mobile myTouch 3G Links:
Unraveling T-mobile myTouch 3G
With T-mobile myTouch 3G, the external appearance of the handset is as appealing as the incorporated software. This handset is a trend setter and looks extremely stylish and appealing. It is slim and the users can easily carry it in a handbag and slip it into their pockets as well.
The hardware specs are seen extremely close to the one supported by G1, including 3.2 megapixel camera, 528MHz Qualcomm CPU, microSD card slot, WiFi, as well as 3G HSDPA. However, in certain specific areas T-Mobile myTouch 3G excel as it its flash storage is more permitting several installation of application. Just like an iPhone, in myTouch 3G also the users can pursue any application and download them to their phones directly. The myTouch 3G also has an outstanding trackball when at times operating with touch screen does not interest users, though the touch screen is receptive.
The display of the handset is vibrant and bright similar to the display of the iPhone. The HTC ExtUSB port that is used in other phones from HTC is also used in T-Mobile myTouch 3G. Along with this another attraction that this handset has in store for you is a zipper case that has a wide range of accessories such as 4 gig Micro SD card, screen protector as well as a stereo headset. The battery life of myTouch mobile 3G is far superior to G1 that has a capacity of 1340 mAh along with higher management of power. If the usage of the handset is moderate then the battery can easily be used for around two days. With so much there to explore in this handset, your experience of using this handset will be great.
T-Mobile myTouch 3G Links:
T-Mobile G1 Touch
The T-Mobile G1 Touch might not have a very flash user interface, such as the one used on the iPhone. However, when looking at ease of navigating through the sheer number of features that are available on the G1, Google have done a great job in creating a UI which is extremely intuitive, powerful and fun as well.
In addition to this, the T-Mobile G1 Touch also benefits from the Google Android 1.5 ‘Cupcake’ update, which brings in some new features such as a higher level of parity with the iPhone and a couple of other neat stuff as well. The phone is extremely good when you consider convenience of use and doesn’t pile on the menu items unnecessarily. The apps present in the G1 as well as in the Google Market are quite good and, in particular cases, are quite unique. The Google Maps Street View has really done a great job in terms of creating a whole virtual world using the built – in compass and the accelerometer.
The T-Mobile G1 Touch has another great feature in the form of the Amazon MP3 store which gives you the chance of purchasing music from the store without the hassle that is DRM. There is an app known as Compare Everywhere which scans the barcodes and gives you details on some discount deals for certain products.
All this just means that there are a variety of applications compatible with the G1 which really takes mobile applications to a whole new level. The Cupcake update might not really result in an overflow of customers but the existing users will be happy with the presence of the onscreen keyboard, the nice UI utilities and the video recording facility. The G1 has already been released in May earlier this year and will be available on contracts