The Italian data protection authority ('Garante') announced, on 2 April 2021, that it had fined Fastweb, S.p.a. €4.5 million for processing the personal data of millions of users for telemarketing purposes, without obtaining their consent. In particular, Garante highlighted that it had conducted a complex investigation following hundreds of reports and complaints about continuous unsolicited promotional telephone calls and internet services offered by Fastweb. Among Garante's findings, it observed the use of fictitious numbers or numbers not registered with the Register of Communication Operators ('RCO'), and a lack of adequate security measures for the customer management systems. As a resu
News
Italy: Garante fines Fastweb €4.5M for unsolicited telemarketing activities
April 6, 2021
Summary
The Italian Data Protection Authority fined Fastweb €4.5 million for using personal data of users for telemarketing without consent, following an investigation sparked by numerous complaints. Garante found Fastweb used unregistered numbers and lacked proper security measures in their customer management systems. Consequently, Garante mandated Fastweb to only use data with explicit consent, register telemarketing numbers with the RCO, and enhance security to prevent unauthorized data disclosure.