The Chester Crown Court has ordered two former employees of UK mobile operator T-Mobile to pay a total of £73,700 after stealing and selling customer data from the company in 2008, but why is this a landmark ruling?
First, it is a record fine for data protection offences, but more important than that, is that for the very first time we are seeing the criminal courts taking data protection seriously, says Stewart Room, partner at London law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse.