The Canadian Privacy Law Blog: Developments in privacy law and writings of a Canadian privacy lawyer, containing information related to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (aka PIPEDA) and other Canadian and international laws.

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The author of this blog, David T.S. Fraser, is a Canadian privacy lawyer who practices with the firm of McInnes Cooper. He is the author of the Physicians' Privacy Manual. He has a national and international practice advising corporations and individuals on matters related to Canadian privacy laws.

For full contact information and a brief bio, please see David's profile.

Please note that I am only able to provide legal advice to clients. I am not able to provide free legal advice. Any unsolicited information sent to David Fraser cannot be considered to be solicitor-client privileged.

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The views expressed herein are solely the author's and should not be attributed to his employer or clients. Any postings on legal issues are provided as a public service, and do not constitute solicitation or provision of legal advice. The author makes no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained herein or linked to. Nothing herein should be used as a substitute for the advice of competent counsel.

This web site is presented for informational purposes only. These materials do not constitute legal advice and do not create a solicitor-client relationship between you and David T.S. Fraser. If you are seeking specific advice related to Canadian privacy law or PIPEDA, contact the author, David T.S. Fraser.

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Better shred than read: Community paper on what local organizations are doing to protect personal information

Thanks to HIPAA Blog for pointing me to this interesting article in a local paper that chronicles what community businesses and organizations are doing in in Muscatine, Iowa to protect personal information. For example, city hall is shredding like crazy:

MuscatineJournal.com:
"...City Hall, schools
David Casstevens, director of Administrative Services for the city of Muscatine, says there are three paper shredders in City Hall, where shredding receipts and personnel information has been practiced for at least five years.
Nearly every county office has at least one shredder. Check stubs and vendor claims are destroyed after two years; primary and general election materials are destroyed after 22 months; and city, school board, and county supervisor election results are destroyed after six months.
Current school records are all that's stored at the respective schools in the Muscatine School District. Superintendent Tom Williams says that space for records is limited and older records are stored on microfiche and CDs. The paper copies are stored in bins until June when staff can begin to shred them.
Muscatine Power & Water, does its own shredding and also uses a boiler in the power plant to burn some of its sensitive documents, according to MPW spokesman Gary Wieskamp. He said accounts payable and invoices are recorded on microfilm...."

The article discusses the local police, a number of local merchants and other organizations. Interesting to see a community paper take such an interest.

Labels: information breaches