A woman in Savannah who went to a Jackson Hewitt for help preparing her taxes got a phone call the next day from a stranger, telling her that all her documents — including her personal information, copies of her license, social security number and her children’s social security numbers — had been sent to a…
Author: Dissent
Hospital Addresses Online Privacy Mistake
When a former patient at West Penn hospital went online to pay her bill, she discovered that she could access 85 other patients’ information, including their names, addresses, medical procedures and costs. When the hospital did not reply to two emails she sent alerting them to the problem, she went to a news station, and…
3 arrests at ‘forgery lab’ in Reno hotel-casino
The Associated Press reports: Federal agents and local officers investigating a string of thefts from mail boxes in northern Nevada have arrested three suspects accused of operating a “forgery lab” out of a room at a hotel-casino in downtown Reno. U.S. postal inspectors and the Secret Service were among those tracking the case since victims…
UK: Four found guilty of grants fraud
Four Nottingham people have admitted defrauding the government out of almost £42,000 in maternity grants. Lookman Agbolahan, 22, of Highurst Court, who led the scheme, was jailed for two years and three months. His girlfriend Victoria Gladstone, 20, of Nuthall Road, was given a suspended one-year jail term. Agbolahan got details from Department for Work…
CDT Paper Debunks Common Health Privacy Myths
From CDT.org: The public has significant privacy concerns about having their medical records on-line. That mistrust of health IT poses a serious obstacle to its widespread adoption. We need to build on the privacy rules already found in HIPAA and create new protections leading to a comprehensive privacy and security policy framework for the evolving…
OH: Postmaster Charged With Identity Theft
The United States Post Office is entrusted with getting mail to the intended recipient safely. Now the former post master of Bethel is accused of stealing a former employee’s identity. Jennifer Justice, of New Richmond, was indicted on October 22, 2008 for allegedly using someone else’s information to obtain credit cards and magazine subscriptions. Read…