Last updated 10.15pm - MaltaToday managing editor Saviour Balzan has submitted a complaint to telecoms companies Vodafone and GO, demanding they investigate what he said was a breach of personal data from their companies and determine the source of the breach.
Details of Mr Balzan’s call logs, referring to calls between Mr Balzan and the chief of staff of the Prime Minister, Keith Schembri, were revealed on Daphne Caruana Galizia’s blog.
Ms Caruana Galizia wrote yesterday that late on Thursday, Mr Schembri rang Mr Balzan at around 1am and they spoke for 10 minutes. Then on Saturday morning Mr Balzan rang Mr Schembri at around 10am and spoke to him for a few seconds. He rang Mr Schembri again later that day, at 5.30pm, and this time they had a protracted 20-minute conversation.
Mr Balzan initially denied the allegation and said he would take legal action, prompting Ms Caruana Galizia to file another entry listing specifics of the calls.
In his letter to the telecoms companies, which also includes a complaint to the Data Protection Commissioner, Mr Balzan requested that the companies take immediate action against whoever was found to have been involved in this violation of data protection rules.
He also reserved his right to take legal action against the companies if they failed to take action on the breach.
In his complaint, Mr Balzan said the posts suggested that Ms Caruana Galizia was privy to phone records and other personal information, a suspicion she later confirmed in the second post, through which she exposed the specific details of the alleged phone calls, including the phone numbers, the service providers, the time, as well as the duration of the calls.
“These phone records clearly constitute personal data as defined under Article 2 of the Data Protection Act,” Mr Balzan said in his complaint.
“I acknowledge that public persons are subject to journalistic scrutiny. This notwithstanding, journalistic freedoms and the corresponding right to freedom of expression do not include the right to process personal data without the consent and to the prejudice of the data-subject.
“It is evident that this personal data was processed unlawfully and illegitimately and without any justification by one or more employees or members of staff to serve (Ms) Caruana Galizia’s ends. This illegal processing constitutes a clear breach of my client’s privacy and is punishable by a fine of up to €23,000. Not to mention the breaches under criminal law.”
Mr Balzan has also asked the Data Protection Commissioner to investigate the data breach immediately.
VODAFONE, GO REACTION
Vodafone Malta and Go said there was no indication of a breach in their systems.
"We are currently conducting an internal investigation in response to Mr Balzan’s claims. At this stage, however, we have no evidence whatsoever to indicate that there has been a breach in the systems in place to protect our customers’ communication," Vodafone said.
Go in a late evening statement said an internal investigation was immediately launched and there was no indication so far that any client’s privacy had been compromised.
Both said they would fully cooperate with the relevant authorities.