D&B China Venture Accused over Privacy

Business information giant D&B has announced the temporary suspension of operations of its Chinese subsidiary Shanghai Roadway D&B Marketing Services Co Ltd., pending investigation of allegations of violations of the country's data privacy laws.

D&B (Dun & Bradstreet) said in a statement that it is also reviewing allegations that local employees may have violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and certain other laws, and said it was co-operating with Chinese authorities and had voluntarily reported the matters to the US Department of Justice and SEC.

More specific details of the alleged offences have not been disclosed from D&B, and online sources report calls to the Chinese subsidiary going unanswered today. However, reports in the press in China say Shanghai police have confiscated four computer servers at the company headquarters and questioned three senior executives, and suggest that private information including income levels, jobs and addresses for some 150 million Chinese residents, collected via cold calling and from banks and insurance firms, have been sold to companies for marketing and sales purposes.

D&B says it will actively pursue the investigations until the matter is satisfactorily resolved. Roadway is one of a number of D&B majority-owned joint ventures in China, and was acquired in 2009. Last year it achieved around $23m in revenue, out of a group total revenue of $1.76 billion.

Other US firms have been accused of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. A year ago, IBM paid $10m to settle (with no admission of guilt) a complaint that its employees bribed South Korean and Chinese officials, while Avon Products and Wynn Resorts are also the subject of current, ongoing investigations.

Web site: www.dnb.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.