Fed: Telstra denies bungle but admits mistakes possible

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Fed: Telstra denies bungle but admits mistakes possible

EDS: Corrects figure in par nine to one in 10,000, not one in 1,000 as sent

By Lisa Davies

SYDNEY, Aug 12 AAP - Telstra today denied it mistakenly published hundreds of silentnumbers in the White Pages but admitted there was always a risk a few were revealed inerror.

A newspaper report said a mistake in Telstra's data entry systems had resulted in thenumbers appearing in the online and hard copy versions of this year's directory throughoutAustralia.

But while Telstra spokesman Michael Herskope said the report was simply wrong, civillibertarians said any kind of slip-up was not acceptable.

Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman John Pinnock said the situation could be devastatingand Telstra had written to the affected customers and was trying to rectify the situation.

But Mr Herskope said the claims were simply not true.

"There have not been hundreds of silent lines published in error," Mr Herskope said.

He said while there was always a possibility of a mistake being made, checks were inplace to ensure Telstra customers' initial instructions were followed.

"So whilst there might be a risk of an error we expect that as in previous years, itwould be a minute fraction of requests that are in error," he said.

"Unfortunately, error does happen here because there's human interaction involved -after all we're not robots."

He said the chance of an error was one in 10,000.

But NSW Council of Civil Liberties president Cameron Murphy said if the mix-up provedto be correct it was an irreparable breach of people's privacy.

"I think it's disgraceful that they haven't been able to protect people's personalinformation in this way particularly as it's a service they actually charge for," Mr Murphysaid.

"People are entitled to expect that their information is kept private and that it'sonly used for the purposes that they give consent for."

Mr Murphy said excuses by Telstra that human error was unavoidable, just did not wash.

"It's not good enough for them to say 'Sorry, we made a mistake,' privacy protectionis one of the key areas that people are concerned about," he said.

"They've got an obligation to avoid human error."

Mr Herskope urged customers who had been the victim of an error to contact the companyto have the situation rectified.

The Daily Telegraph story said the silent line problem arose after Telstra gave productionof the phone directory to its subsidiary Pacific Access, which also produces the YellowPages.

The newspaper report claimed some clients did not appear in the hard copy but wereincluded in the online version of the White Pages.

AAP ld/arb/cjh/de

KEYWORD: TELSTRA SILENT NIGHTLEAD