[Dataloss] TX: RadioShack customers' personal info found in dumpster

[DAIL, ANDY]

Here is an update to Lyger's original story.

http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=121092&WT.svl=news1_3


Garbage Out, Cops In

APRIL 3, 2007 | When Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott filed legal
action against Radio Shack yesterday for illegally dumping documents
containing personal information, it wasn't the first time he stuck his
nose in someone else's garbage. In fact, he's done it three times in the
last two weeks -- and he's not done yet.

Abbott and his team gained national attention yesterday when the Texas
Attorney General's Office filed an action against a Radio Shack store in
Portland, Texas -- near Corpus Christi -- for allegedly exposing
thousands of customers' personal information in a bulk garbage dump
behind the store. The documents contained Social Security numbers,
credit card information, and addresses.

Radio Shack is accused of violating the 2005 Identity Theft Enforcement
and Protection Act, a Texas state law that requires the protection and
proper destruction of clients' sensitive personal information. The
company faces penalties of up to $50,000 for each violation.

But Radio Shack isn't the only company in hot water over garbage
disposal. On March 14, Abbott took action against Jones Beauty College
of Dallas for improperly discarding student financial aid forms. Just a
day before that, he threw the book at On Track Modeling, a N.C.-based
talent agency that abruptly shut down its Grand Prairie, Texas office
and abandoned more than 60 boxes containing hundreds of confidential
client records.

"Identity theft is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the United
States," said Abbott in a statement following the Radio Shack filing.
"Texans expect their personal information to be protected. The Office of
the Attorney General will take all necessary steps to ensure that
consumers are protected from identity thieves."

Checking the trash may seem above and beyond the call of a police
officer's duty, but as identity theft becomes more visible, law
enforcement agencies are obliged to demonstrate their willingness to do
something about it, observers say. Last Wednesday, U.S. marshals took
some heat when they evicted a temporary staffing company from a D.C.
office building and left boxes of personal files on the street.

If Abbott's prosecutions are successful, they could bring pressure on
companies to be more diligent in how they store and dispose of personal
information, even in branch offices or retail outlets. The Texas laws
apply to any company that improperly dump personal data in the state,
even if they are headquartered elsewhere, he asserts.

Several states, including R.I. and S.C., have enacted data protection
laws similar to those in Texas.


- Tim Wilson, Site Editor, Dark Reading


-----Original Message-----
From: dataloss-bounces at attrition.org
[mailto:dataloss-bounces at attrition.org] On Behalf Of lyger
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 12:06 PM
To: dataloss at attrition.org
Subject: [Dataloss] TX: RadioShack customers' personal info found in
dumpster




http://sanantonio.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2007/03/26/daily28.html

Thousands of payment slips showing the credit card numbers and other
personal information of RadioShack employees was found in a dumpster
behind a Corpus Christi-area RadioShack, a news station reported
Wednesday.

According to the KZTV report, a man rummaging through trash behind a
RadioShack store in Portland, Texas, found nearly 20 boxes of discarded
records.

[...]
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