Sale of RadioShack Customer Data To Be Limited, Bankruptcy Judge Rules

RadioShack agreed to limit the sale of consumers’ personally identifiable information, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster said in a news release. Wednesday's settlement announcement came after General Wireless obtained approval from the bankruptcy court that day to buy RadioShack’s entire e-commerce business, intellectual property and remaining assets, the release said. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon ruled that of the 117 million customer files, no more than 67 million will be transferred. The remaining data will be destroyed, the release said. General Wireless will “not gain access to the most sensitive personally identifiable information, including credit or debit card information, social security numbers, telephone numbers or dates of birth,” the release said. General Wireless will have email addresses provided to RadioShack by customers in the past two years, but RadioShack will give customers the ability to opt out before their email address is shared with the new owner. Physical address information also will be transferred to General Wireless, and consumers can restrict the use of the information, it said. The settlement is the result of mediation in RadioShack’s federal bankruptcy proceeding, the release said, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called it a “victory for consumer privacy nationwide.” Thirty-eight states joined together in this case to safeguard sensitive, personally identifiable information, Paxton said. “Consumers should be able to rely upon a company’s promise that their personal information will never be sold,” Koster said. “RadioShack has agreed to limit the sale of customers’ data, and provide additional protection for consumers to prevent the unexpected sale of their information,” he said. “RadioShack customers should be on the alert for information from RadioShack on how to opt out of having their data transferred,” Koster said, adding his office will make the information available on its website, too. As part of the settlement, General Wireless is prohibited from selling or sharing this customer data with any other entity, including its new business partner for phone sales, Sprint, the release said. The FTC had urged the court to protect personal data (see 1505180043).