[Dataloss] San Francisco Indian Consulate

[Dissent]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/02/LAZ.TMP

Thousands of visa applications and other sensitive documents,
including paperwork submitted by top executives and political
figures, sat for more than a month in the open yard of a San
Francisco recycling center after they were dumped there by the
city's Indian Consulate.

[...]

Information on the documents includes applicants' names, addresses,
phone numbers, birth dates, professions, employers, passport numbers
and photos. Accompanying letters detail people's travel plans and
reasons for visiting India.

"As we see it, the documents are not confidential," said B.S.
Prakash, the consul general. "We would see something as confidential
if it has a Social Security number or a credit card number, not a
passport number."

[...]

... a sampling of documents obtained by The Chronicle indicate that
the boxes contained confidential paperwork for virtually everyone in
California and other Western states who applied for visas to travel
to India between 2002 and 2005.

[...]

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