Doing the Right Document Thing

Call him the Good Samaritan of data privacy protection – a San Francisco landlord stumbled across a veritable 'identity theft starter kit' only to have it hauled off on his dime.

Granted, not everybody who would happen upon 2,000 to 3,000 files of sensitive, potentially valuable financial and personal identifying information would immediately set forth on a spree of identity-related fraud. But give Billy Tookoian credit for taking the extra effort of not just taking the materials he found in a vacated office building and tossing them in the recycling bin. Instead, the landlord paid to have it hauled away by a company that specializes in sensitive document disposal, according to a recent piece on NBCBayArea.com. 

Tookoian “didn’t feel comfortable just throwing them out in the recycling bin,” he was quoted in the story. Evidently, a deal struck through a bankruptcy firm gave Tookoian control of the office, albeit with the not-minor responsibility of dealing with whatever the previous tenant, the now defunct Financial Title, left behind.  

That included “Social Security numbers, copies of checks, bank information, credit reports, even thumbprints” for about 2,000 of the company’s former clients, according to NBCBayArea.com.

Tookoian did the right thing. But what if someone isn’t willing to make the effort, and pay the price to properly dispose of the information left behind?

Joe Ridout of Consumer Action told NBCBayArea.com: “One of the hidden consequences of this economic mess…is that a lot of businesses are failing and as they fail they leave behind a lot of information that could contain something very important about you and me.”

The Federal Trade Commission requires proper disposal of sensitive personal information. This includes burning, pulverizing or shredding any consumer information so that it cannot be read or reconstructed, and hiring document destruction contractors to properly dispose of significant information. Shredding the documents and then putting them in a plastic bag on the curb is not enough.

The FTC suggests all companies have a sound security plan in place. This means knowing what personal information is being kept, only taking what information is essential, protecting that information, properly disposing of it when it’s no longer needed, and planning ahead to respond to any security breaches. Suffice it to say, any company that goes out of business needs to add one more task to its “To Do” list: proper record-disposal.


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