[Dataloss] Boxes Full Of Personal Information Found In The Trash

[Arsen Shirokov]

Interesting.

> ...When Utica quit paying rent the storage company went through the legal process to be able to sell everything left behind...

Does this mean somebody could have bought the boxes, thus coming into
legal possession of the information ?  They wouldn't have been able to
use the information for illegal purposes such as generating false
identities, but there are so many other legal, privacy-violating
things the purchaser could've done.

Arsen

On 8/16/07, MKEVHILL at aol.com <MKEVHILL at aol.com> wrote:
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> http://kotv.com/news/local/story/?id=133886
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> Private information, free for the taking is discovered in the trash. Bixby
> police say a company was willing to let anyone, including identity thieves,
> have access to thousands of social security numbers, bank records and more.
> Utica Title and Escrow went out of business and put about 200 boxes of
> personal papers in a storage unit. The storage company says they stopped
> paying their monthly rent, so the storage place had no choice but to get rid
> of everything. News On 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright reports they had no
> idea the boxes contained a mother load of private information, including
> social security numbers, bank accounts and pay stubs.
>
> An anonymous tip led Bixby police to a stack of boxes in and a trash
> dumpster Tuesday night. Officers couldn't believe the gold mine of personal
> information they found. Authorities say an identity thief could've turned
> the information into millions.
>
> "It was amazing. I didn't understand how big it was until I got to the scene
> and saw for myself, looked through the boxes and saw how much stuff was in
> there," said Bixby Police Chief James Kite.
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> The boxes belonged to Utica Title and Escrow and had been stored at a
> storage unit in Bixby. When Utica quit paying rent the storage company went
> through the legal process to be able to sell everything left behind, and
> whatever doesn't sell is trashed. No one wanted to buy boxes of paper so the
> boxes were thrown out.
>
> [...]
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> Mike
>
>
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