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Compensation for victims of data theft is announced

"We now know for sure that roughly 1,500 people's personal data has been leaked."

Chien Jen-ter, head of the Directorate General of Telecommunications

After police confirmed that telecom workers had leaked clients' personal information to crime syndicates, the Directorate General of Telecommunications announced late Thursday evening that data-theft victims will be eligible for three months of free service, phone number changes and up to NT$100,000 in compensation.

The Kaohsiung District Prosecutor's office recently indicted 32 individuals, including several government officials and employees of telecommunications service providers, suspected of leaking the personal data of at least 2 million individuals to an organized crime syndicate headed by Hsiao Ron-hsiung (蕭榮祥).

The syndicate bribed government officials and telecommunication company employees to obtain personal information of mobile phone users.

"After checking with the police, we now know for sure that roughly 1,500 people's personal data has been leaked by telecommunications workers in conjunction with the Hsiao Ron-hsiung case," said Chien Jen-ter (簡仁德), head of the Directorate General of Telecommunications.

The directorate said yesterday that it had asked the Kaohsiung District Prosecutor's Office to supply telecommunications providers with a list of users whose personal data had been illegally disclosed. The directorate is asking that the list be provided by the end of next week and that only the phone number, last two characters of the user's name and last three digits of the client's national identification card number be provided.

Once the list has been made available, telecommunications providers will be required to contact victims to inform them that their personal data is no longer secure. Victims will be eligible for a phone number change within three months of receiving notification.

The directorate said that data theft victims can negotiate with telecommunications service providers for compensation of between NT$20,000 and NT$100,000.
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