This happens with your account data
Many Telefónica/o2 customers are receiving messages from their provider these days. They are informed that the group will use their IBAN differently in the future than before. Behind this is a new advertising strategy that is already attracting data protectionists.
o2 wants to use your account data: What is behind the message
Why does your mobile operator actually need your IBAN? It’s obvious, the contract costs money, you pay by bank transfer or electronic direct debit (ELV) and your account details are already known. Also: If a payment is not made, o2 and Co. need to know who and which account to contact. But o2 wants to use your IBAN for something else in the future and is currently informing affected customers about it.
From September 5th, the IBAN of customers who have given this account information to Telefónica will be processed “pseudonymised”. The aim of the action is to find out which contracts at Telefónica are linked to the same account.
One hopes to be able to make better offers from this, according to a transparency page, which, in addition to the customer SMS, also informs about the upcoming change. For example, contracts that previously ran individually could be merged, for example if customers had had a mobile phone contract for years and later opted for Telefónica/o2 for fixed-line Internet. Such cases, in which no combination advantages have been used so far, can be discovered in this way, from which the customers benefit.
But there is also another page: Theoretically, the knowledge gained can also be used for other types of advertising. If you recognize a family from the affiliation of several mobile phone contracts to one account, you could specifically market suitable additional offers – whether they are wanted or not.
Whether o2, Telekom or Vodafone – canceling can be worthwhile for you:
No IBAN access for Telefónica? Customers must act
Telefónica works together with the Federal Data Protection Commissioner, to be on the safe side with the action. There is a rating there hot still out. However, a similar procedure in Lower Saxony led to a hefty fine of 900,000 euros for the Volksbank Hannover.
Telefónica has made it clear to heise that the step is not considered problematic:
“The basic consent to the processing of the inventory data from the addressed customers was already obtained in the course of the conclusion of the contract,” says a company spokesman. In addition, affected Customers object to the use of their IBAN for this purpose by replying to the incoming SMS.
