Virgin broadband users concerned over email privacy

According to a recent report Virgin Media has been allocating previously used email addresses to new broadband customers, which could lead to a breach of privacy.

It has been reported that many current and former Virgin Media broadband customers may be feeling concerned about the privacy of their emails and personal information after it emerged that Virgin Media has been recycling old email address by doling out previously used email addresses to new customers.

According to the report this could lead to breaches of privacy. The report points out that if someone with one of the recycled email addresses tried to register with a website that the previous owner was registered with it will not allow them to do so because it will say that the email address being used is already registered. However, it will send out the password to the email address holder believing it to be the person that registered, and this could enable others to also get hold of other personal information.

Officials from Virgin said that when a person was cancelling their account they were told that they had to also cancel any links that were associated with the email address, and were given three months to do this. Virgin said that it then kept the email address for a further three months, during which time it removed all personal details linked to the email.

However, according to the Competition Commissioner this sort of email address recycling – which Virgin said is also used by other Internet providers – could result in companies inadvertently breaching the Data Protection Act.

Would you feel concerned about someone having your old email address? Let us know with your comments

Source – This Is Money