Amy L. Edwards reports: A bus driver accused of stealing the identities of her disabled passengers and opening credit accounts with their personal information pleaded guilty to more than two dozen federal charges this week. Watreka Ligon pleaded to 27 counts of wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and trafficking in a counterfeit device, court records…
Author: Dissent
(Update) ALDI breach reports mushroom, customers in 11 states affected
The breach involving ALDI grocery stores is apparently larger than earlier reports suggested as reports trickle in from Pittsburgh and other areas. The chain has updated its statement on its website today: October 1, 2010 ALDI Inc. recently learned that, from approximately June 1, 2010 to August 31, 2010, tampered payment card terminals were illegally…
U.S. scientists experimented on Guatamalan mental patients and prisoners, giving them STDs in govt-funded studies
Dr. Ken Pope writes on his mail list: An article with information relevant to patients’ informed consent, protection of human subjects, and the history of medical experimentation is scheduled for publication in the January, 2011, issue of Journal of Policy History. The article is “”Normal Exposure” and Inoculation Syphilis: A PHS ‘Tuskegee’ Doctor in Guatemala,…
Court: society's interest outweighs friars' privacy interests in psychiatric records
Psychiatric or mental health records are among the most sensitive records anywhere and courts have routinely stood firm in protecting confidentiality of those records. In a case involving the sexual molestation of children by friars, however, a court has held that the compelling social interests in protecting children outweighs the friars’ privacy interests in their…
FL: Ex-employee accused of hacking into loan company’s computers, stealing data
News-Press.com reports: A former employee of Home Lynx Home Loans on College Parkway is accused of hacking into the company’s computer system and stealing confidential customer information, potential customer lists and marketing material. The former employee, whose name was not available in the sheriff’s report, was terminated in June. The owner of the company told…
Article: DNA Theft: Recognizing the Crime of Nonconsensual Genetic Collection and Testing
Elizabeth E. Joh of the U.C. Davis has an article in a forthcoming issue of the Boston University Law Review (Vol. 91, 2011). Here’s the abstract: The fact that you leave genetic information behind on the discarded tissues, used coffee cups, and smoked cigarettes everywhere you go is generally of little consequence. The trouble arises…