[Dataloss] Census Bureau loses hundreds of laptops

[lyger]

Courtesy Cancer Omega (attrition.org):

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/09/21/missing.laptops.ap/index.html

POSTED: 9:56 p.m. EDT, September 21, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Commerce Department has lost 1,137 laptop computers 
since 2001, most of them assigned to the Census Bureau, officials said 
Thursday night.

The Census Bureau, the main collector of information about Americans, lost 
672 computers. Of those, 246 contained some personal data, the department 
said in a statement. However, no personal information from any of the 
missing computers has been known to have been improperly used, the 
department said.

The number of people affected by the equipment losses could not be 
determined, the department said.

"All of the equipment that was lost or stolen contained protections to 
prevent a breach of personal information," said Commerce Secretary Carlos 
M. Gutierrez. "The amount of missing computers is high, but fortunately, 
the vulnerability for data misuse is low."

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