Telstra snubs CND Reference Panel

Telstra has ignored the advice of its own Reference Panel to defer introduction of Calling Number Display (CND) until it meets its targets on awareness of CND and its privacy implications.

Tim Dixon, Director of the Australian Privacy Foundation and a member of Telstra's CND Reference Panel, spoke out on behalf of the panel expressing concern that CND was being launched without adequate awareness of how it will impact individual privacy.

"Telstra is on the public record saying that it will meet these targets. We have been monitoring the Telstra research, and it is clear that they have fallen well short of these benchmarks".

On Friday, at an extraordinary meeting of the Reference Panel, Telstra announced that they were going ahead with the rollout of CND and placed a gag on the members of the panel from releasing the statistics publicly.

"Telstra has misled the Minister for Communications and the public by revealing only selected parts of their research. However, the full research shows that:

• More than half of people do not believe that the privacy implications of CND have been adequately explained.
• A substantial majority of people do not know how to organise blocking of their telephone number.
• Most people think that business use of CND information is 'a bad or very bad idea'."

"If people knew the real statistics and how far Telstra is from its benchmarks, they would find the decision to proceed with rollout very surprising. It suggests that Telstra is sacrificing their customers' privacy for commercial gain."

"Telstra has promised the Minister that it will uphold guidelines on business use of CND through contracts with its customers. But given its refusal to even inform its customers about how businesses will use their personal information, consumers will have little confidence in these promises."

Release November 29 1997 4pm
For further information, contact Tim Dixon on 0411-114411 or 02-9231 4949.