Tracy Vedder reports: TACOMA, Wash. — When we handed Lyle Lippel a set of documents that could have been used to steal his identity and cause financial ruin he said it was crazy and scary that the papers were so easy to find. Lippel’s private information was in a pile of paperwork dumped in plain…
Category: Government Sector
Stonewalled? Guttenberg housing residents still worried
Back in August, I reported a breach involving the Guttenberg Housing Authority in New Jersey that had reportedly left many housing residents and housing applicants on the waiting list confused and worried due to the lack of information in the notifications. Three months later, Tricia Tirella of the Hudson Reporter reports that residents are still…
Jp: ‘Leaked MPD data’ out as book
As a follow-up to the breach reported here: A Tokyo publishing house has released a book containing what are believed to be Metropolitan Police Department antiterrorism documents that were leaked onto the Internet last month. Released by Dai-San Shokan Thursday, the book contains the personal information of Muslim residents in this country, such as their…
Ca: Laval transit card disposal breaches privacy
The Laval Transit Corporation has launched an investigation after more than one hundred expired student transit cards were found lying on the ground near the Longueuil metro station on Montreal’s South Shore. Unlike the regular-fare “Opus” smart cards, the student cards contain private information including a person’s name, photo and school. […] The Agence Métropolitaine…
DPA fines – why ICO got it right
Stewart Room writes about the first fines imposed by the U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office: I’ve heard two arguments that are critical of the ICO fines. They go something like this: (1) the fines were too low and (2) it’s wrong of ICO to fine a Local Authority when it didn’t fine Google. Let me try…
UK: First monetary penalties served for serious data protection breaches
The Information Commissioner today served two organizations with the first monetary penalties for what he characterized as serious breaches of the Data Protection Act. The first penalty, of £100,000, was issued to Hertfordshire County Council for two serious incidents where council employees faxed highly sensitive personal information to the wrong recipients. The first case, involving…