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Joan Antokol

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: One man’s trash is a gold mine for privacy violations

National pharmacy chains such as CVS and Walgreens are not the only ones to experience “dumpster-diving” by investigative reporters. These drugstores were merely the first to be featured in media reports about customers’ personal information being disposed of without being destroyed first, a violation of state and federal privacy laws. Diving in Local reporters have since rummaged through the trash of mortgage brokers, title insurance companies, fitness centers, banks, law firms, hospitals and government organizations. While searching through the trash,…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Credit card companies boost enforcement efforts

When American Express and Diner’s Club introduced the first credit cards in the 1950s, few people could have anticipated their presentday popularity. And even fewer could have anticipated the creative ways identity thieves would find to conduct credit card scams. They install cameras in and around ATM machines, engage in sophisticated online phishing schemes, and hack into large databases to obtain Social Security numbers, credit card numbers and drivers licenses. Through the Internet, thieves buy and sell those numbers as…

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