total tinfoil hat

OK, so I was following the story about purchasing other people's phone records and came to an article in ConsumerAffairs.com.

It mentions the following:

The major question on everyone's mind is how enterprises like Data Find Solutions are getting their hands on what should be protected, private information. News reports are focusing on the possibility of rogue employees within telecommunications companies who may be selling the records to third parties.

The truth may be a bit more complex, however.

Although customer service representatives for telco companies are based in the U.S. for the most part, the actual billing transactions and management for major players such as Nextel and T-Mobile are handled by an overseas third-party company.

That company is Amdocs, an Israel-based customer relations management (CRM) company with offices throughout the United States and other countries. Amdocs specializes in customized billing and "risk" applications for its clients, including most of the major telecommunications companies.

Amdocs trumpets its ability to deliver "deep customer understanding" for the needs of the services industry. Amdocs' philosophy revolves around structuring its responses according to its most profitable customers, its promotional material boasts.

And indeed the company has reaped great profit from its work with the major phone companies. In fiscal year 2004, 11 percent of Amdocs' revenue came from partnerships with Bell Canada and SBC Communications (now AT&T), while 15 percent came from Nextel.

Amdocs reported revenue of $573 million for the fourth quarter of 2005, with total 2005 revenue totaling over $2 billion.

Amdocs is undertaking a venture with SBC/AT&T called "Project Lightspeed," handling customer management for AT&T's attempt at delivering Internet-based television and content services. AT&T also owns Cingular Wireless.

When asked about the possibility of Amdocs' involvement in the sale of customer phone records, Mark Siegel would not comment.

"We can't risk getting into specifics for fear of tipping off the bad guys," he said. "We're pursuing a variety of means to improve the situation."

Amdocs has been investigated by the U.S. government before. In 2002, Fox News broadcast a series of reports detailing how Amdocs and other overseas companies might be gathering detailed information on customer phone usage, and not protecting it properly.

According to the report, Amdocs was exploring the possibility of using "widespread data mining techniques" that utilized customer "behavior," such as credit reports, to build profiles of the customers, including who they called and when.

"U.S. intelligence does not believe the Israeli government is involved in a misuse of information, and Amdocs insists that its data is secure," the report said. "What U.S. government officials are worried about, however, is the possibility that Amdocs data could get into the wrong hands, particularly organized crime."

Although there is no evidence indicating Amdocs' involvement in the sale of cell phone records as of yet, as long as major telecom companies continue to outsource vital operations such as customer records to third-party companies, the possibility for misuse and abuse will exist.

The Fox News report is here and the total tinfoil hat is here; I shouldn't even be posting that.

There was also this corporate espionage case and an earlier one.

On an unrelated note, at first I thought this was the same as this, but they appear to be two different stories.