Kirsty Gibbins reports: East Lothian Council has apologised over a “serious” staff error which saw the personal details and previous convictions of taxi licence applicants published on the local authority’s website for two hours. The names, addresses, telephone numbers, driving history and criminal records of 12 applicants for either taxi driver or operator licences –…
Month: September 2010
New Zealand business owners dealing with data loss after earthquake
Roumiana Deltcheva writes: Companies and other agencies in Christchurch, New Zealand have been forced to deal with data loss as a result of the massive earthquake that struck the region last week. The earthquake, which was measured at higher than a 7 on the Richter scale caused damage to countless buildings, but the resulting data…
Fi: Data protection breached most often by nosy co-workers
The other day I posted something about data protection of healthcare records in Finland. That report indicated that breaches in the private healthcare sector were more common than in the public healthcare sector. Today’s Helsinki Times discusses the Ombudsman’s report and sheds some additional light on the nature and extent of breaches there: “Disputes in…
Class Claims Fox Hacks Into Computers
Karina Brown reports: A class action claims Fox Entertainment Group hacked into millions of computers to install “rogue, cookie-like tracking code” to snoop on people who visit Fox’s “American Idol” website. The class claims Fox and Clearspring Technologies committed crimes, circumvented privacy settings, and that the rogue devices reinstall themselves even if their victims can…
Report: RBS WorldPay Hacker Gets Four Years’ Probation
Robert McMillan reports: The mastermind behind one of the biggest hacking paydays in history has been sentenced to four years’ probation and an US$8.9 million fine, according to published reports. Victor Pleshchuk, 28, was sentenced to four years’ probation on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg News. He is considered the leader of a group of criminals who…
Porn, Privacy, HIPAA – Redux
Attorney Michael Fattorosi writes: In February, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation took their fight against AIM and the adult industry to the authorities of the federal Office for Civil Rights, a federal agency under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that enforces HIPAA, the California Office of Health Information Integrity enforcement Unit and Los…