A tale of folks not used to working with technology and the security and safety side of things, didn’t know how to wipe their device before putting it up for sale, and one other thing it tells me too is that the group didn’t appear to have much use for technology as well, why imagewould they not perhaps put the devices into use elsewhere?  Duh?  We all knew from the video on the web the leader didn’t even know how to email, so perhaps an indication of how important good leadership is? 

I’m sure those folks who have their personal contact information on the Blackberries feel real good about this right now!  If the price is right and the users are ignorant and bliss enough about technology, well it looks like just about anything here was game.  Where were the IT folks on the campaign trail, did they hire any or enough?  Did they not view security and personal information as being important, does not appear to be so.  

Again, a warning to all about security and from earlier this year, a story about a physician who was a bit bliss or ignorant when it came to medical records on an old notebook he sold, cost him his job at the university.  When it comes to technology, being bliss can stand to not only hurt and endanger your own information, but worse yet, information of others, so best to read up and ask if you are not sure when it comes to computer technology today.  BD 

Doctor Quits After Putting Medical Records at Risk

Whoops!  What was he thinking....at least get a new hard drive before giving away an old computer....and think of the embarrassment, both for the University and the physician...even with reformatting the disc, the only way to be sure today is to remove it completely and get a new drive, as it takes several wipes to completely remove any data on a drive to be absolutely sure...and even then...you don't know that it is 100% clean..BD

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- The private health information of 1900 local patients may have been compromised when a Jacksonville doctor gave his computer away. Dr. Francis D. Ong resigned from his position as a University of Florida assistant professor of plastic surgery at the College of Medicine-Jacksonville.

UF privacy officials say Dr. Ong stored his patients' health records on a computer, which he eventually gave to some acquaintances -- a Jacksonville family.
Dr. Ong told investigators, a member of that family replaced the computer's operating system, resulting in the permanent loss of most of the patient information.The information stored, included unsecured digital photos of his patients along with identifying information that may have included names, dates of birth, Social Security or Medicare numbers, and some individual medical information.

Still, the hospital mailed letters on Monday notifying all of Dr. Ong's patients whose information might have been compromised.
The patients involved were treated by Dr. Ong between July 2005, when he joined UF, and December 2007.

We learned during the presidential campaign that the Blackberry was the “miracle that John McCain helped create,” according to an aide to the failed GOP candidate. And what a miracle it’s turned out to be for an enterprising reporter who poked around at a garage sale the campaign held in Arlington, Virginia, last week, turning up two Blackberries with more than 300 contacts still loaded on them.
Tisha Thompson, an investigative journalist at WDCA-TV, the Washington, D.C., Fox News affiliate, reports that she paid $20 a pop for the devices, which contained phone numbers of McCain donors and supporters as well as emails, calendars and photos.

“It makes me quite uncomfortable,” former Republican Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, whose number was on one of the Blackberries, tells the station. “It’s a matter of principle. I gave that information to McCain headquarters and to have it sold is bothersome.”

Gilmore’s number was on a Blackberry belonging to a “high-level” campaign fundraiser whom the station doesn’t identify. WDCA says it’s getting emails from other people who also supposedly bought devices containing private info, including one who said the stuff on his was “mind blowing.”

http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=reporter-finds-private-campaign-inf-2008-12-15

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