9 October 2006
Outsourcing call centres out of Europe carries with it a number of risks, according to one industry expert.
Stewart Room, chairman of the National Association of Data Protection, has warned that moving call centres out of Europe could carry inherent security risks.
His comments come in light of the recent Channel 4 Dispatches programme which obtained video evidence of the sale of UK citizens' business details from call centres in India at £8 a time.
Mr Room told Channel 4 News that the evidence showed systematic breaches of data protection rules.
He said: "My suspicion is that this is very, very widespread and when you look at cases over the past 12 or 18 months you see many, many instances of big corporations, in Europe, in the United Kingdom, in America suffering these kinds of scandals that Dispatches has uncovered.
"I don't think that the UK industry is immune from any fault or any criticism. It's a global problem. You can not attain 100% security so Amicus may well be thinking of trade protectionism issues rather than privacy issues."
Looking for a new phone supplier? Use uSwitch.com to compare all available suppliers, pick the best supplier for you and switch online.