Emily Long reports: A new Office of Personnel Management database designed to track federal employee health benefit plans could put at risk the personal information of participants, according to privacy advocates. OPM last week announced plans for a database tool to track and evaluate the quality and cost of services provided through the Federal Employees Health…
Author: Dissent
Former Employee of Fannie Mae Contractor Convicted of Attempting to Destroy Fannie Mae Computer Data
Ah, the risks of disgruntled terminated employees. A federal jury convicted computer programmer Rajendrasinh Babubhai Makwana, age 36, of Montgomery County, Maryland, yesterday of computer intrusion arising from the transmission of malicious script to Fannie Mae’s computer servers. The verdict was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and…
Canadian Privacy Commissioner troubled by poor computer disposal practices and lack of controls for wireless devices in government
The federal government’s use of handheld communications devices and its practices for disposing of unneeded paper documents and surplus computers could expose the personal information of Canadians to unauthorized disclosure, Privacy Commissioner of Canada Jennifer Stoddart has warned. The findings, stemming from two separate privacy audits conducted by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of…
AU: ABC Warns Bluebird AR Viewers About Security Breach
Angus Kidman reports on a breach involving the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that potentially affects those who registered for the ABC’s Bluebird AR interactive drama earlier this year. In an email, ABC wrote: It has just come to the ABC’s attention that between Sept 9 and October 4 this year, an error in migrating files meant…
PHR Privacy Report a Work in Progress
Howard Anderson writes: Federal officials are still months away from submitting an overdue report to Congress on privacy and security requirements for personal health records vendors, which are not covered by HIPAA. Section 13421 of the HITECH Act called for the Department of Health and Human Services to submit a report by last February on the…
Family Suing NYC After Teen’s Brain Found In ME’s Office
I’ve occasionally blogged about the privacy of the dead and families’ rights with respect to the dead. Some parents have been shocked and distraught to discover that when their child’s body was released to them, body organs might have been missing as they were still undergoing testing. But when the testing is done, the coroner’s…