Blood bank fears laptop heist ID theft

TalkBack 14 of 16:

Next »

« Previous

• Thread View
• Flat View

Reasonable expectation

Greets Trollcatcher

"Does liability apply here? Possibly. Depends on the whether the company was negligent in protecting the information."

Yes liability applies here and the company is liable for neglegence. The employees are agents of the company that hired them. Their employees allowed the theft through neglect. If bad things happen with the info they are indirectly responsible. There is court precednce for this.

" Do you think protection of information this sensitive requires more than reasonable care? Does this rise to the level of public interest that it should be considered strict liability?"

Yes and Yes again. My wife is a paramedic. Both she and her company are liable if she allows patient information to slip into the public domain with major fines from the governement as a start. She now works in the sales department of a private ambulance comapany. In her capacitiy as a sales rep she is required to address any issues that may arise in the transportation of patients. Reports must be taken and sensitive information regarding the patient is often involved in those reports. She is not allowed to send/receive interoffice memos/emails from home for fear that patient info might end up on our home computer. Immediate termination is the rule if she breaks the rules of privacey.

On the issue of SSANs. The Social Security number was never intended to be a "ready" identification number, yet that is abused by blood banks, states Departments of Public Safety and lending institutions to name a few. There was a ZDNET story a few months back of some researcher using California's records for some study. His laptop was stolen with names addresses and SSANs. In my opinion both California and this professor should be held responsible for any adverse problems that may occur to the real victims, the people. This willy nilly collection and spread of our personal information needs to stop and some MAJOR JAIL TIME AND FINES are in order for people that allow these things to happen.

Posted by: Squawkbox   Posted on: 12/22/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

Alert moderator to an offensive message

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

• The True Costs of Virtual Server Solutions VMware In an economic environment that is repeatedly heralding the message "do ... Download Now
• The Impact of Virtualization Software on Operating Environments VMware Today's use of virtualization technology allows IT professionals to ... Download Now
• Three Steps You Need to Know to Stop Data Loss Varonis Sensitive data exposed to misuse or loss... it is the stuff of nightmares ... Download Now