[Dataloss] Nelnet -- registration-free info (also a bit on Northwestern)

[Chris Walsh]

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/07/northwestern_data.html

"On July 17th, student loan company Nelnet reported that a data tape  
containing information on 188,000 borrowers had gone missing while in  
the possession of United Parcel Service (UPS). The data involved  
loans serviced by Nelnet that previously belonged to the College  
Access Network, dating between November 1, 2002, and May 31st, 2006.

In a public statement notifying borrowers of the loss, Nelnet claimed  
UPS had not "lost control of the package," but was nevertheless  
unable to find it.

Nelnet's chief information officer, Ray Ciarvella, claimed the tapes  
required "sophisticated data-mapping equipment" to utilize, and that  
the process used to create them was "no longer employed."

Neither Nelnet or UPS explained how the data tapes could be missing  
and in UPS' control simultaneously, or why such a sophisticated  
system for storing data was being phased out".