Comcast will pay to settle charges of unauthorized disclosure of names, phone numbers and addresses of an estimated 75,000 customers three years ago who paid for unlisted VoIP telephone service, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The exposure occurred during a system upgrade which failed to distinguish those customers who paid a supplemental charge of $1.50 a month to keep their information private. The data was sold by a data licensing company and published online and in phone books.
Under the agreement filed Thursday in Alameda Superior Court, California, the broadcasting and cable giant was ordered to fork over $22 million in civil penalties and related costs and pay $8 million to affected customers.
The Philadelphia-based company also agreed to a permanent injunction requiring it to better manage its vendors' use of customer information.
California's Attorney General Kamala Harris called the leak a "troubling breach of privacy."
