Our Digital Confidence team oversees the manner in which Liberty Global deals with the governance of privacy, lawful intercept, security and related product lifecycle issues. We adhere to the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) which offer transparency and data protection for European Citizens.
Customer Privacy
As a provider of internet, telephone and television services, our customers have trusted us with their digital lives. Every decision we make comes with an obligation to keep their personal data safe. ‘Digital safety’ comprises two main strands, customer privacy and data security. In 2019, we launched comprehensive privacy training, which is mandatory every year for all employees. Our GDPR compliance was reviewed across our footprint by an external consulting firm in 2019. While performance was generally good, we implemented a programme to address improvement areas in 2020. We are giving customers control over their data by enhancing our Data Subject Access Request processes. Additionally, our privacy statements have been updated to be transparent about what we do with our customers’ data.
Every organization in the Liberty Global family has an appointed Data Protection Officer (DPO) to oversee privacy and data protection issues. These DPOs report directly to senior leaders, ensuring privacy remains a topic on the agenda in our boardrooms.
Data Security
We define data security as the measures we take to protect the confidentiality and integrity of our customers’ data. It’s a priority for us because our customers trust us with their data and we work hard to maintain that trust. Today, awareness of the importance of data security is at an all-time high, there is increased demand from customers, shareholders and regulators for stronger, more secure practices. We abide by the General Data Protection Regulation, Sarbanes Oxley Act, ISO 27001, CAS(T) and Payment Card Industry DSS legislation in order to ensure this.
Threats are always evolving, and security is a constant priority and challenge. We work closely across all of our entities to ensure that we implement appropriate security controls to protect our assets. We continue to resource an effective team of security professionals and to invest in new tools and systems across our business units such as the CPE security testing team dedicated to ensuring the safety of our customer premise equipment against cyber-attacks. All of our employees complete annual training on data security. Processes are refreshed and followed to make sure security policy is always adhered to. Additionally, we work with multiple internal and external partners to ensure security strategy is always fully embedded into our business goals.
Transparency
Due to the regulated nature of communication services, we may receive requests for information related to our customers’ communications. Such requests must be made by the competent state security forces and bodies and/or judicial forces. Whether Liberty Global is allowed to publish this information is dependent on national regulatory frameworks. In 2023, Liberty Global received 51,361 government requests for Telenet customers in Belgium, with 90% of requests resulting in customer data disclosures. For Sunrise customers in Switzerland, the Federal Department of Justice and Police FDJP publishes statistical information regarding requests for information of our customers made by competent state security forces and bodies and/or judicial forces. Due to national regulatory frameworks that cover our other operations, we are not permitted to disclose the number of government requests or the percentage of requests resulting in data disclosure.
