FC: Canadian police solve The Case of the Missing IBM Hard Drive?

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Tue Feb 04 2003 - 22:24:41 PST

  • Next message: Declan McCullagh: "FC: More on annoying type of s...p...a...m... isn't new after all"

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    Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2003 16:30:52 -0500
    To: declanat_private
    From: Michael Geist <mgeistat_private>
    Subject: Canadian police recover missing hard drive
    
    Of possible interest -- http://cbc.ca/stories/2003/02/04/diskdrive_030204
    
    MG
    -- 
    **********************************************************************
    Professor Michael A. Geist
    University of Ottawa Law School, Common Law Section
    Technology Counsel, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
    57 Louis Pasteur St., P.O. Box 450, Stn. A, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5
    Tel: 613-562-5800, x3319     Fax: 613-562-5124
    mgeistat_private              http://www.lawbytes.ca
    
    ---
    
    From: David Akin <dakinat_private>
    To: "'Declan McCullagh'" <declanat_private>
    Subject: IBM's missing hard disk
    Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2003 17:43:22 -0500
    
    Hey Declan ---
    
    Up here in the far north, we've been paying a lot of attention to a hard
    disk that went missing from an IBM facility in Regina on January 16. It
    contained personal financial and/or health records on more than 1 million
    Canadians, including the portfolios and accounts numbers for 750,000
    customers of Canada's largest mutual fund company.
    
    This afternoon, police in Regina, Saskatchewan, said they found the disk and
    charges are pending. We don't know what they might charge the person with.
    If it's theft, the a hard-drive is only worth a few hundred bucks so what
    would the penalty be? There are some arcane 'electronic tampering' laws up
    here that carry stiffer sentences but the police seem to think the person
    who took the disk didn't access the data, therefore, did they tamper?
    
    A class action lawsuit has also been filed on behalf of those Canadians who
    had data on the disk.
    
    Anyhow, for Politech folks interested in what's being dubbed Canada's
    biggest privacy disaster, here's some links.
    
    
    Missing hard drive recovered
    [Full story at: http://tinyurl.com/5ck6]
    
    Missing computer disk spurs suit
    A class-action lawsuit was launched yesterday over a computer hard-disk
    drive that went missing from ISM Canada that included confidential data
    affecting more than one million people.
    [Full story:  http://tinyurl.com/5ck5]
    
    Data processing star faces tough privacy questions
    ... IBM Canada Ltd. of Markham, Ont., must deal with some embarrassing
    questions about its ability to protect sensitive customer information. On
    Jan. 16, during a routine upgrade of a computer in ISM's Regina facility, a
    computer hard drive went missing and police are investigating . ..
    [Full story at: http://tinyurl.com/5cjt]
    
    David Akin
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    CTV News
    The Globe and Mail
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    Office: 416.313.2503
    Mobile: 416.528.3819
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    Complete Contact Information at
    http://www.davidakin.com
    
    
    
    
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