Erica Shanta Fowler, 27, of Virginia Beach, pled guilty Tuesday to aggravated identity theft for stealing identity information belonging to nursing home patients. Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, made the announcement after Fowler’s plea was accepted by United States District Judge Robert G. Doumar. She faces a mandatory…
Author: Dissent
BNP leader ‘paid for UKIP member list’
Daniel Foggo and Jon Ungoed-Thomas report: Nick Griffin is to be investigated by the privacy watchdog after the BNP [British National Party] leader was accused of paying for a database containing the names and addresses of thousands of members of a rival party. The database, which belonged to the UK Independence party and contained the…
Guardian Jobs website hacked
James Glick writes: The UK jobs website, Guardian Jobs, was hacked last night leaving all users data exposed. The Metropolitan Police are investigating and for anyone that has used the service, they’ve circulated advise (sic) in an email sent round to users by the Guardian this evening. It’s not clear from the email whether this…
Online gamblers personal details sold for quick cash (update 2)
Nick Haslem of AustralianGambling.com.au reports: In an alleged shocking betrayal of player privacy by gambling companies that includes 888, William Hill and Full Tilt Poker, AustralianGambling.com.au has today obtained a sample of player details that has been sold and traded like a commodity. At the time of printing, they have all refused to clarify whether…
UK: ‘Senstive information posted’ on town hall website
Data protection rules have come under the microscope after residents’ driving licences and utility bills were allegedly posted on a council’s website. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is now investigating complaints made about Ashford council’s online planning archive, which contains scans of documents dating back to 1984. Usually such files are limited to letters, application…
But What About the Potential HIPAA Violation?
Sheel Pandya writes on CDT’s Policy Beta blog: Last month, we blogged about how Humana (and maybe some other health plans) sent warnings through letters to its Medicare beneficiaries that they could lose their health care benefits and services due to health care reform legislation pending in Congress. In response, the Centers for Medicare and…