Fran Handy reports that after the Sparta School District in New Jersey erroneously sent out the unredacted version of a spread sheet containing vendors’ SSN and other information — instead of the redacted one that they had prepared in response to an open records request — the District has had some trouble getting the data back. The unredacted file had been sent to local activist Jesse Wolosky, on June 24, who then:
contacted television and print news media to inform them of the public records violation. He also contacted some of the individuals on the list to say he was in possession of their private information and that it was given to him by the school district.
The district reports that it first became aware of the error on June 29 when they were contacted by media for a statement. The district has reportedly sent 1,800 letters to names on the list informing them of the error. But by last week, the district was still having trouble getting the data back:
On July 2, Ceurvels sent a second request for Wolosky to return the files. As of Tuesday afternoon, he had not done so.
Wolosky said, “Why would I take the risk to e-mail back the files, which include social security numbers, when they could get lost in cyberspace and go to the wrong mailbox? I’m also not deleting the files because I now have state agencies looking into the matter.”
District officials say keeping the information in his computer is unauthorized and could put Wolosky in a position of liability, should the information fall into the wrong hands.
Sparta Police Department’s Public Information Officer Sgt. John Paul Beebe said, “Any citizen who comes into possession of information or property they know they shouldn’t have has the civic obligation to return it immediately.”
The number of SSN involved is unclear, as Handy reports:
Wolosky said between 600 and 800 (the district says 200 to 300) of these were sent to him in the files, which is a violation. However, it is not clear if disclosure of employer identification numbers is also a violation.
Read more in the Sparta Independent.