The Texas House of Representatives on Monday displayed its utter contempt for women’s privacy by voting 107-42 [roll call] to approve legislation that requires women seeking an abortion to undergo an ultrasound before the procedure is performed. The bill [HB 15 text; materials] requires doctors to conduct a vaginal ultrasound and display the images at…
Author: Dissent
Hard drive containing personal information of some Western Michigan University students and faculty missing
Gabrielle Russon reports: A backup hard drive containing names and social security numbers of several hundred current and former students and faculty members is missing, Western Michigan University spokeswoman Cheryl Roland said Tuesday. The hard drive, which contained a WMU department’s academic records, was first noticed missing from an office desk on Jan. 25. Roland…
Corporate data breach average cost hits $7.2 million
The cost of a data breach went up to $7.2 million last year up from $6.8 million in 2009 with the average cost per compromised record in 2010 reaching $214, up 5% from 2009. The Ponemon Institute’s annual study of data loss costs this year looked at 51 organizations who agreed to discuss the impact of losing…
Ca: Central Health employee terminated for privacy breach
Kevin Higgins reports: Central Health played its zero tolerance card March 7, terminating an employee of James Paton Memorial Regional Health Centre for breaches of privacy. The health authority’s chief executive officer, Karen McGrath, said the employee “inappropriately accessed” personal health information of at least 80 reports belonging to at least 19 different people during…
Activist’s Hospital Records Stolen: “I Am Fearful For My Life; I Am Under Psychological Pressure From Security Forces”
This is not the typical kind of medical privacy breach that I post to this blog, but it’s a reminder that there are many types of privacy breaches and some may be particularly malignant: Following news that security forces stole Narges Mohammadi’s medical records, she spoke the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran about…
Hard drive from Alaska Dept. of Education with 89,519 students’ information stolen
Reba Lean reports: The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development has warned school districts across the state that information on thousands of students, including some from Fairbanks, was contained on a computer hard drive stolen in Juneau. The department sent a letter to all school districts, including Fairbanks, alerting local officials to information breach….