[Dataloss] Dumpster diving in San Francisco CA

[Henry Brown]

http://www.ktvu.com/news/16961916/detail.html
Major Security Breach At SF City Agency Exposed

[...]
Potentially thousands of people's personal information was exposed after 
a San Francisco agency left confidential files in unsecured curbside 
garbage and recycling bins.

It's trash day in the city and the scavengers are out rifling through 
the garbage bins in a San Francisco alley. A KTVU cameraman caught two 
individuals with pick-up trucks stopping briefly before hauling away 
armloads of paper. No one challenges them as they steal from the 
unsecured blue bins.

A closer look shows some of what they left behind: confidential 
documents from the San Francisco Human Services Department.

[...]

The agency handles the case loads of 8,000 San Franciscans and 
presumably safeguards the personal information it requires from its clients.

[...]

Trent Rohrer is the head of San Francisco Human Services. Rohrer showed 
KTVU how the personal information is supposed to be disposed of, placed 
in locked bins.

"We do have a whole set of policies and procedures to prevent this stuff 
from happening, and clearly there are flaws in that," said Rohrer

So are people simply not following procedures, or is there criminal 
activity going on inside the city department?

"We'll go from top to bottom to see if there's an internal identity 
theft ring going on or if there's something external going on. We'll get 
to the bottom of it," said Rohrer.

[...]