Vodafone Australia is in deep hot water again over reports lax privacy standards have compromised the personal information of millions of its customers.
The private details - such as credit card details, drivers' license numbers, home addresses and call logs - of around 4 million Vodafone users are available through a freely-accessible website, the Sydney Morning Heraldsaid on Sunday.
This site is protected only by password logins, which are made available to potentially thousands of people including employees at Vodafone retail stores and resellers, and are able to be freely passed around.
The Herald said it had learned of some criminal groups paying for access to the information, planning to use the details to extort some Vodafone customers. It also discovered instances where people have obtained logins to check up on their spouses via call logs.
Vodafone has confirmed it is investigating the alleged breaches.
Herald journalist Natalie O'Brien describes watching her own personal details, including her entire call list, her Vodafone PIN number and date of birth, be called up in seconds by someone who knew a password for the customer database.
Australian privacy commissioner Timothy Pilgrim is expected to today consult to Vodafone about the issue.
His office has the power to conduct an own-motion investigation, and even order that Vodafone pay compensation to affected customers. But the commission has to date yet to use that power.
Vodafone Australia, already sweating in the spotlight over complaints of ongoing network outages and congestion, now also faces having breach of privacy claims added to the class-action lawsuit planned in response to the outages.
Law firm PiperAlderman has revealed it will send letters out to the thousands of Vodafone customers which have registered an interest in joining the action, and will add claims to the suit if the respondents can provide details of privacy breaches.
Vodafone Australia in 2009 merged with Hutchison Australia's 3 to form Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA). But the Vodafone and 3 brands continue to operate independently.