Telecommunication giant, MTN has admonished its subscribers to be circumspect in giving out their personal details during programs and events; as such details could be accessed and used by third parties.
Amidst privacy concerns, a section of the general public, particularly subscribers of telecommunication companies (telcos) have expressed worry and displeasure over claims that their personal details available to the telcos are shared with third parties who in turn contact the subscribers with unsolicited offers.
But answering a question to that effect during a virtual program dubbed; MTN Bright Conversation on CyberSecurity, Senior Manager- Enterprise Information Security at MTN, Jacqueline Hanson Kotei, despite admitting the issue of third parties sending unsolicited messages, refuted the allegations that MTN was largely responsible for sharing subscribers’ details with third party organizations.
According to her, MTN understands the seriousness that underscores the privacy of their subscribers; and is therefore doing its best to ensure that customers’ details are protected in line with the Data Protection Act.
She also advised subscribers to be circumspect in giving out their names and contact numbers during pragrams; as such personal details could end up being used by other companies to contact subscribers.
“With the outbreak of Covid-19, when you go for events, you are required to write your name and number for possible contact tracing. You don’t know where these lists end up. So sometimes, your number will not only be coming from the telcos to the third party organizations.” Madam Jacqueline explained.
She however admonished subscribers to take personal responsibility to ensure that they follow-up on unsolicited messages to have them stopped.
On her part, Child Online Protection Advocate, Awo Aidan Ameyah, highlighted the need for safer internet to ensure that children are protected online.
She particularly also admonished parents not allow their children below 13 years to have email accounts.
According to her, such exposures could lead the children to all kinds of cyber threats.
Among other things, Madam Aidan urged stakeholders to endeavor to protect children from harm and unacceptable exposures.
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHZ|Paul Fordjour/Ghana
