Over on DataBreaches.net, I mentioned a previously unknown (to me) breach that was revealed in Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner’s 2010 Annual Report. Another incident that the report included involved a medical privacy complaint. At pp. 82-83: Case study 17: Inappropriate disclosure of medical research data In March 2010 we were contacted by a lady who…
A future where we carry our genomes on our smartphones
Steve Dow reports: It could be a grief-saving app of the future, the day we carry our gene sequence in our phones. When two people want to have children, they’ll bump genomes and a database might reply: ”Think again, you both have faulty disease-causing copies of the same gene.” That’s the hope of the Australian…
IL: Medical center employee sentenced to 8 years for ID thefts
Mary Shenk reports: Patricia Castor of Mahomet fought back tears as she told a judge how her late mother lived in fear after her wallet was stolen by an employee of an Urbana hospital where she was a patient. […] The wallet and identity thief was Karen Dooley, 30, of Champaign, a “transporter” for Provena Covenant…
TX: Important Documents Left In Dumpster
Lindsey Reiser reports: Thousands of documents containing personal information were out in the open for just anyone to grab. They’re in safe hands now, but, we still have plenty of questions. That’s because they weren’t just any documents. They were checkbooks, federal income tax forms, W2’s, 1040’s, etc. – more than what you would need…
WikiLeaks accused Bradley Manning ‘should never have been sent to Iraq’
I realize that readers may be surprised to see a news story with that headline linked from this blog, but if you read the report by Maggie O’Kane, Chavala Madlena and Guy Grandjean, you’ll see that as much as it reports on Manning’s mental health before and during deployment, it also reveals a lot of reportedly…
MA: Steps taken to mitigate Sandwich privacy breach
George Brennan reports: Four teachers whose Social Security numbers were released publicly have been officially notified of the breach and offered privacy insurance by the school department, Town Manager George “Bud” Dunham said. The Social Security numbers were on forms released by an attorney working for schools Supt. Mary Ellen Johnson purportedly to show that…