Slashdot Mirror
Private Data Sold From Indian Call Center
Matt Freman writes to mention a ZDNet article on reports that private data is being sold out of an Indian call center. A U.K. television programme, 'Dispatches', follows a 12-month investigative report on illegal privacy-related activities. During the taping of the show thousands of U.K. bank customers had their personal information sold by the staff of a call center. From the article: "Indian IT trade organization Nasscom criticized Channel 4 for refusing to show it any of the footage before it was broadcast on Thursday evening. It urged the program makers to cooperate in rooting out and prosecuting any 'corrupt' call center workers. 'The whole issue of data security is a global problem,' said Sunil Mehta, a vice president at Nasscom. 'There are bad apples in every industry around the world, and these incidents happen in India and the U.K. This is not a widespread problem in India. Security measures and practices that Indian companies have are the best in the world.'"
Most shady people who would sell others' information would not care about being fired from some $7.50/hr call center job. Prosecution is not a big threat either, as rare as it is for people to be aggressively prosecuted for data theft. This is true no matter what country the call center operates in. It's just what will inevitably happen when you farm out important corporate operations to the lowest bidder. Of course they will take shortcuts and of course there will be shady people willing to exploit the situation. The only thing surprising about this article is that people didn't realize the potential for these problems a lot sooner. And the only thing that surprises me about fraud is that it isn't more common, as easy as it is to do. All it takes to succeed is a little common sense is a complete lack of morals.
A call center employee in India does make about $2.3 dollars per hour. However, I am really tired of people quoting these low Dollar figures for pay, while forgetting to mention that the "low pay" tends to be rather high for the local economy.
Let me give you some estimate of costs and expenses in US Dollars. These numbers are for cities like Bangalore and lie closer to the upper limit. I have considered the kind of restaurants and other establishments a young and hip call-center employee is likely to haunt. In the interest of full disclosure: I am Indian, and am quite familiar with the goings on in India in the IT and BPO fields.
Here is the summary before I give you the details: A call-center employee has the potential to save about 35% of his monthly pay. I wish I could do so in the US. Even by Indian standards, 35% is very good savings potential. For comparison, my sister and brother-in-law live in Bangalore, do not work in IT or BPO, and together earn less than the average call-center employee does. Mind you they both have daily expenses. They also have other expenses (schooling and feeding children mostly) an average call-center employee tends not to: The average call-center employee is single, in early 20s, and quite often not contributing much financially to his family.
With numbers like these, I can argue that call-center employees in India have a lot less incentive to sell out. That is, people in the US might look for "supplemental income" more than an Indian call-center employee does. Now, I don't believe that is so, just like I don't believe the argument that the lower Dollar-wage makes Indians (or other nationals) sell out data.
Here is the deal: For every 100 guys selling data, there is one guy buying it. The buyer shops in India because doing so is less expensive for him. So, how about we also look at where the buyers are coming from and what they do with it?
Average Monthly Numbers
- Pay: $444.44
- Expenses: -$276.75 (Everyday expenses (-$150.9), and rent and other montly expenses (-$125.85)
- Savings: $167.69 (37.7% of income)
Everyday expenses (Note: Call centers in India give their employees free refreshments and free/subidised transportation)- A cup of coffee at a really fancy coffee house: $0.33 (yes, 33 cents)
- A cup of ice cream at a really fancy parlour: $0.65 (must buy ice cream for the girl that tags along)
- A pack of cigarettes: $1.5 (cigarette smoking seems to be on the rise)
- A full meal at a really fancy restaurant: $2.22
- A day pass on a city bus: $0.56 (though the average call-center employees are unlikely to take a bus: they ride bikes)
- A can of beer: $2.00 (most people don't drink beer everyday, but I list it here in case you are wondering)
Monthly expenses- Rent: $44.00 (A native is likely to live with parents, and pays well below this number)
- Hair cut: $0.55
- Movie tickets, for four shows: $3.00 (movies are the most popular form of entertainment)
- Concessions at the movies for four shows: $4.50
- Apparel for self: $10.00
- Apparel for the person you are wooing: $10.00
- 10 gallons of gas: $48.8 (yes, gas is that expensive)
- Vehicle maintenance: $5.00
Big-ticket