Privacy is important to Vodafone UK for a number of reasons. We hold personal and financial information on our customers and we have access to customer mobile records. We need to store customer data securely and ensure it is only accessed or used in line with their privacy preferences.
We do not rent, sell, share or disclose customer data to third parties for their marketing without permission.
Our privacy officer is responsible for implementing and updating our data protection standards and she reviews new products and services to ensure any privacy implications are addressed. We have an online training course to help employees understand our privacy requirements. This is required as part of the induction of all employees and includes one hour of e-learning on how to apply our privacy policy practice.
We report any significant breaches of our privacy policy to the Information Commissioner.
Outsourcing
Some customer data is managed and stored by suppliers on our behalf. We have put processes in place to ensure that suppliers meet our privacy requirements. These include:
- Data protection clauses and security requirements in all third party contracts
- Continual monitoring by our specialised security teams
Read more about our data protection and privacy policies
Location-based services
Location based services (LBS) enable people to be located via their mobile.
We work with independent companies that provide LBS tracking services, for example to enable business customers to monitor their vehicle fleets. A few companies provide LBS services which enable parents to track their children.
We require LBS providers to obtain the consent of the person being tracked without exception, even if that person is a child. New service providers complete a self-verification process to help them comply with our standards.
All complaints about LBS service providers are promptly investigated and when a serious complaint is made we immediately suspend the service while it is investigated. We share information about complaints with other mobile operators.
Compliance
Vodafone complies with the Industry Code of Practice for the Use of Mobile Phone Technology to provide Passive Location Services in the UK. This states that:
- location services can only be activated with consent of the person being located and should not be used for any form of unauthorised surveillance
- location services should be easy to stop or temporarily suspend
- only a parent or guardian can open an account for the purposes of locating children under the age of 16.
Read our Code of Practice.