Mishandling of Information Pinellas County Clerk

November 20, 2008 – 2:16 pm

Audits are done to insure that businesses are running the way they should and nothing is overlooked in the processes that happen in the office. Audits can be great if they actually bring about change for the better rather than just disrupting the office’s dynamic. An audit of the Pinellas County Clerk of the circuit court found that there has been a mishandling of private information including documents that had social security numbers on them.

The audit included an inspection of the garbage cans, which were used by 13 different government buildings, where they found a large amount of documents that had personal information on them. There were hundreds of documents that should have been shredded before they were thrown away. The documents included: medical data, privileged communications between attorneys and clients, juvenile defendant records and child abuse materials.

The government buildings are taking the audit very serious and plan on making new efforts to prevent sensitive data from making it out of the building before being shredded. Some departments are not sure they were to blame for the misuse. One department said that they have a semi-monthly service that shreds their sensitive data for them. One thing is certain though the public should not have to worry about their personal data in the hands of the government whether it’s state and local governments or federal.

LifeLock is the leader in identity theft protection. They can prevent someone from using any personal and sensitive information to steal your identity. The misuse of personal information happens all the time and from different sources. Someone who is looking for information could find it in your local government trashcan. To help prevent an identity theft from happening to you get a LifeLock membership today. We offer a discount on LifeLock memberships. To receive our discount use LifeLock Promotion code, Defense.

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