Adam Wilson reports: One of the more intensive lobbying battles last year was over “data mining” by drug companies, which use lists of prescriptions from pharmacies to find doctors who weren’t prescribing what they were selling. Then they’d pay the doctor a visit and suggest Brand X. The bill died, but its successor has broader…
Author: Dissent
CO: Man accused of ID theft tried to surrender, turned away
From the this-is-kind-of-embarrassing-dept.: Deborah Sherman reports: For the second time in the same case, law enforcement in Denver turned away a key component in hundreds of instances of identity theft. The first time, it was a box full of stolen documents found in a storage unit, turned away by a Denver Police officer. This time,…
IN: Social Security numbers leaked
Allison Suer reports: The Social Security numbers of 19 special events employees were leaked in an e-mail sent by another Ball State employee on Jan. 27, Tony Proudfoot, associate vice president for marketing and communications, said in a press release. The incident occurred because the 19 special events employees mistakenly put their Social Security numbers…
Hackers break into AT&T e-mail accounts
Hackers broke into AT&T Inc.’s Worldnet e-mail accounts that “use easy-to-guess user passwords,” a spokesman confirmed Tuesday. The hackers took over a few hundred accounts and began sending out large amounts of spam during the past three weeks, said Mike Barger, AT&T spokesman. AT&T disabled those accounts. AT&T also sent notices to all of its…
Protect Health Privacy Provisions In Recovery Package
Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy: Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Tuesday urged Congress to support critical health information privacy protections included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which the Senate is considering this week. The legislation includes funding for investments and incentives in health information technology. The increased use of technology and the Internet can…
Password Optional: Huge Security Breach Hits SpeedDate
Jason Kincaid reports: Wow. Something is seriously wrong at SpeedDate, the online dating site that throws strangers into whirlwind 3 minute dates. For at least 30 minutes this evening (and possibly more), passwords were totally optional. Type in a user name (no password needed), hit “Log In”, and you had access to every private message,…