LOS ANGELES (Legal News Line) - Comcast will pay a $33 million settlement after allegations that personal information was posted online for customers participating in Voice over Internet Protocol phone service, announced California Attorney Kamala Harris.
“Publishing personal information that should have been unlisted is unlawful and a troubling breach of privacy,” Harris said. “This settlement provides meaningful relief to victims, brings greater transparency to Comcast’s privacy practices and sends a message that violations of consumers’ privacy will result in significant penalties.”
The claim states that names, phone numbers and addresses were posted online for approximately 75,000 customers who were subscribed to have an unlisted VoIP service. $25 million will be paid to the California Department of Justice and the California Public Utilities Commission and $8 million will be paid as restitution to affected customers.
The judgment also states that Comcast must improve how it handles customer complaints and requires the company to tighten regulations on how vendors use the personal information of customers. Comcast will also be required to disclose to customers how unlisted information is used.