[Dataloss] Canada: Bell probes theft of personal information on 3.4 million Ont., Que. clients

[lyger]

On Wed, 13 Feb 2008, security curmudgeon wrote:

": " : The telecommunications company said Tuesday it had recovered the stolen 
": " : data at a Montreal home but that it was fairly limited and only included 
": " : names, addresses, telephone numbers and a list of Bell services the 
": " : client subscribed to.
": " 
": " This is where the telco needs to come clean. Name, address and phone 
": " number of listed customers is obviously not any real breach.
": " 
": " That information of *unlisted* customers begins to be more of a concern.

I'm interested in knowing what percentage of residential phone numbers, at 
least in the U.S., are unlisted.  Found an old article, which I found 
somewhat surprising:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3065/is_n8_v18/ai_7812479

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management,  August, 1989  by Elizabeth Leamy

"The rate has risen nearly 27 percent in four years, from 22 percent of 
households in 1984 to 28 percent in 1988."


": " They also need to define "services" here. Does this include DSL service? 
": " Just POTS services like call waiting?

Does either service constitute either "personal" or "private" information?


": " : "There was no identity material beyond name, address and phone number," 
": " : Langton added. "(The information is) similar to what you'd find in the 
": " : white pages or a phone directory."
": " 
": " *Similar*, which does not rule out the possibility of unlisted customers.

True.  But again, should an unlisted phone number be considered personal 
or private information?  From a personal standpoint, I can see why it 
should be, but what about from a generally accepted standpoint?  New 
ground here... how "private" or "personal" are unlisted phone numbers and 
should they be held to the same standard as Social Security (or 
SIN/NIN) numbers, credit card numbers, financial account numbers, or dates 
of birth?