What kind of credit card company lets an employee take home a laptop containing the sensitive financial records of 150,000 employees? Ameriprise, that’s who.
security
Another Day, Another Loss of Hundreds of Thousands of Personal Records
By 1.27.06
This time, they’re medical records. From Computerworld:
The tapes and disks were taken home by the employee as part of a backup protocol that sent them off-site to protect them against loss from fires or other disasters. That practice, which was only used by the home health care division of the hospital system, has since been stopped, said health system spokesman Gary Walker.
Really, taking the tapes home wasn’t that bad of an idea, although he probably should have dropped them off at a cave or something. The real issue is the inevitability that your information will (has!) already travelled from one of the hundreds of databases that already holds it into the hands of someone who can abuse it.
The Car Pool Lane of Airport Security
By 1.24.06
t possibly have a Nike full of plastique.
Soon, first class may not just refer to where you sit on an airliner, but how you get on board.
Remainders: Digg and Slate Edition
By 1.24.06
Although we don’t intend to make this a regular feature just yet, we spotted a rash of Consumeristy links over at Digg that we thought we’d pass on.
Sprint Asks for $25 to Help Parents Track Lost Child
By 1.12.06
Make no mistake: We think that Sprint refusing to help freaked out parents locate their carjacked baby is awful. Whether Sprint’s policy states that customers need to pay a $25 fee to subpoena the information or not, an exception should probably have been made. (Sprint has stated that emergency procedure was not followed.)
What is the Legality of Retailers’ Post-Sale Spot Checks?
By 1.11.06
try to leave the store. They try to FORCE everyone to stop and have their receipts & carts checked before they leave the store. I cannot tell you how much this bothers me. Once I pay for my merchandise, it is MINE – I own it! If they want to check my cart or my receipt, they need probably cause to detain me – otherwise it is illegal search & seizure. They want me to wait in one line for 30 minutes to check out, and then wait another 5 minutes to have some lackey check my receipt? FORGET IT! I have complained about this repeatedly to the store manager. They claim it is to make sure that I haven’t been “over-charged” for anything. But after some argument, they admit it is used to keep tabs on their employees, and make sure that the checkers are actually scanning all items. Is that my problem? Nope! And I refuse to be have my civil rights violated because they don’t trust their employees.
This sounds like a job for an attorney or someone who has had at least one cup of coffee, but Kaje raises an interesting point. How can stores legally search your bags or cart after you’ve paid for an item? Doesn’t the ownership of the goods transfer once you have been given the receipt or bill of sale? Wouldn’t refusing a search on their property lead to, at worse, an ejection from the premises? (You know, like, ejected all the way out to your car so you can drive home?)
A Brief Moment of Western Union Logic
By 1.10.06
Offering a friend a bit of a slump-time bump, today we sent some money via Western Union. Since it was the first time we had used their service, they requested that we call their call center to confirm something. They didn’t state what.
Weekend Wonderland: Security Search Shuffle
By 12.17.05
It’s the weekend and technically we could be out carousing and caroling with the best of them, but like you, we’re still on the freakin’ internet. So let’s share.
