The US company TeleSign, which is a credit agency that assesses mobile phone users, is facing accusations from the Austrian civil rights organization Noyb. Noyb claims that TeleSign secretly creates profiles of millions of mobile phone users worldwide and obtains data from the telecommunications platform Belgacom International Carrier Services (BICS). As a result, Noyb has filed a complaint with the Belgian data protection authority.
In March 2022, the Belgian newspaper “Le Soir” uncovered the deal between BICS and TeleSign. TeleSign verifies over five billion unique telephone numbers per month, equivalent to half of the world’s mobile phone users. The company’s business partners can use the reputation score, ranging from 0 to 300 points, to assess potential users and decide whether to allow them to register on their platforms.
The data from BICS helps categorize users, providing insights into the type and duration of calls or periods of inactivity. Noyb has accused TeleSign of violating EU data protection laws, as several mobile phone users who requested their data under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) found that TeleSign was not listed as a recipient by their network operators.
TeleSign has confirmed that it possesses the relevant telephone numbers and has shared associated risk ratings. Noyb argues that while personal information may be used without consent for security purposes, the secret use of telecommunications data for half of all mobile phone users worldwide is excessive. Noyb is calling for the Belgian data protection authority to intervene and potentially impose a fine of up to 236 million euros, representing 4 percent of the Proximus Group’s worldwide turnover.
TeleSign utilizes machine learning and other forms of artificial intelligence to analyze the large amounts of data it receives from BICS and create a trust index for each telephone number. Noyb is concerned that this data is still processed in the US, where security authorities may also have access to it. The organization has made a template for requests for information available online so that affected mobile phone users can determine if they are affected.
