Telemarketing arrives the fines of the Guarantor for those who make too many calls

Tim received a fine of almost 28 million euros for telemarketing activities: a person was called 155 times in a month

The fight of the Privacy Guarantor continues against companies that too often do not carry out controls on the management of telemarketing activities. This time it's Tim: the telephone operator has received a fine of almost 28 million euros (27,802,946 euros to be precise) for having violated several times the provisions of the law regarding the processing of data related to marketing.

In simple words, the telephone operator has been fined because the call centers are too insistent and very often have called people in the Register of Objections or in the black list of non-customers who can not receive calls. The Privacy Guarantor has been activated after hundreds of reports arrived from citizens who are fed up of receiving calls at every hour of the day. The Authority has obtained the help of the Nucleo Speciale Tutela Privacy e Frodi Tecnologiche (Special Unit for the Protection of Privacy and Technological Fraud) of the Guardia di Finanza (Finance Police), which has managed to unearth numerous violations of personal data protection.

Tim, fine of 28 million for telemarketing activities

In two years (from January 2017 to January 2019), the Privacy Guarantor received hundreds of reports from users fed up with receiving calls from call centers despite being enrolled in the Register of Oppositions or included in a black list of call center phone numbers. Forbidden practices that have led the Guarantor to fine Tim for an amount close to 28 million euros. The investigation was carried out with the support of the Guardia di Finanza which demonstrated that Tim had not been sufficiently aware of fundamental aspects of the data processing carried out (accountability).

According to what was reported by the Guarantor, there were about two hundred thousand cases of people contacted by call centers despite being "off the list", i.e. not part of the lists that call centers can call. Tim has also been fined for not having updated its black list and for not having managed in the correct way the acquisition of data from applications.

The Guarantor has also learned of a person called 155 times in a month for promotional activities.

The fine imposed on Tim is only the first step in the war of the Garante della Privacy against companies that abuse their powers. In the next months could arrive news on the subject.