Mayors and candidates for the local elections to be held in 2023 can possess illegal information that reached them through one of Israel's largest messaging companies, which was recently fined.
The company "Data Online" was fined, after presenting itself as the owner of a registered database, according to the Privacy Protection Law, to dozens of companies that hired its services for data recovery, received from them access to their databases, and illegally traded data that includes a lot of personal information about millions of citizens.
The Authority for the Protection of Privacy determined that the company "Data Online" (registered as the company BMC Lean Group Ltd.) committed a series of serious violations of the Privacy Protection Law and its regulations. In recent years, the company has provided information remediation services to dozens of different companies and entities in the economy, private and public, Among them are running for elections in local authorities, health insurance funds and more.
In this framework, the company presented itself as having a legal and registered database according to the Privacy Protection Law, to the companies and entities that hired its services, received from them access to their databases, and traded in the data transferred to it.
Texting phone Hands of a man typing a text message Mobile smartphone (Photo: ShutterStock)
The administrative supervision procedure was opened after a complaint was filed in 2019, according to which the "Data Online" company uses a database number, which it does not own, to create a false representation to its customers that its activity is legal.
Following the serious suspicion of illegal trade in personal information on a particularly large scale, the Privacy Protection Authority raided the company's offices in the south of the country.
Many materials were seized in the raid, including desktop and laptop computers, hard disks, portable devices and cell phones, which contained tens of thousands of files, correspondence, photos and more.
In addition, during the inspection procedure, it was discovered that the information held by the company was not secured as required by the law and the privacy protection (information security) regulations, and was held in Excel files kept on several computers and various media in an insecure manner.
The findings of the inspection confirmed the suspicions that the "Data Online" company presented itself as a company with a registered database and it even emerged that the company used a registration number of a database that it does not own in its communications with its customers.
It was also found that the company owns and manages thousands of databases that contain a lot of personal information about millions of citizens, contrary to the provisions of the law, and that the company uses and trades this information contrary to the provisions of the Privacy Protection Law and its regulations.
Following the inspection procedure, the company stated that it ceases to engage in the field of databases, creating quality leads, collecting data and improving information, and that it does not own additional databases beyond those captured in the inspection procedure.
However, despite this statement, the company did not stop its actions and the Authority for the Protection of Privacy revealed that the company continues its illegal activity.
The Privacy Protection Authority determined that the company violated the provisions of the Privacy Protection Law, among other things, by not registering the databases in its possession, managing and owning databases whose registration was suspended, and by using and trading databases contrary to the purpose for which the databases were established.
For these and other violations, the Authority for the Protection of Privacy imposed a fine of NIS 320,000 on the "Data Online" company.
Accordingly, the company's customers who possess personal information originating from "Data Online" may be considered as possessing information whose possession and use is prohibited.
Attorney Lina Kamal - Trudi, who is in charge of administrative supervision at the Privacy Protection Authority: "This is a serious case of trafficking and use of personal and sensitive information of millions of citizens, by a company that was one of the largest in Israel in its field, and that systematically and blatantly violated the provisions of the Privacy Protection Law and its regulations.
Worse, the company did this for years, despite the delay of a database registration request that it previously submitted, following which it even declared the deletion of the illegal information in its possession and the cessation of its business activities in the field.
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