It may not seem like common sense to clean your trash before you throw it away, but with technology that is exactly what you should do.
Before you sell, donate or trash your cell phone, make sure that your personal information has been permanently deleted. For most phones, this means more than resetting the phone. Although resetting the phone may appear to delete your information, recent reports suggest that software programs can retrieve the information if it was not properly deleted.
Comments Submitted by:
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
Joined by:
Consumer Action
National Consumer Law Center
PrivacyActivism
US Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG)
World Privacy Forum
September 18 , 2006
Federal Trade Commission
Office of the Secretary, Room H-135 (Annex M)
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20580
Filed electronically: https://secure.commentworks.com/ftc-redflags
Internet users were shocked to learn that the search queries of over 600,000 individuals were exposed online by AOL recently. Although the personal names of AOL users had been replaced with numbers, apparently for a research project, reporters and others were able to determine the identities of several people. Search terms revealed medical conditions, illegal activities, illicit interests, financial information, even Social Security numbers.
Submitted by Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
July 24, 2006
Charles Havekost
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information Technology
Department of Health and Human Services, Room 434E
200 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20201
Attention: IMDA RFI Response Submitted electronically:
Disaster_Storage_RFI@hhs.gov
Procedures to Enhance the Accuracy and Integrity of Information Furnished to Consumer Reporting Agencies Project No. R611017
Submitted: May 22, 2006
Federal Trade Commission
Office of the Secretary, Room 159-H (Annex C)
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20580
Filed Electronically: http://www.regulations.gov
UPDATE (6/29/06): The stolen laptop computer and the external hard drive were recovered. www.usa.gov/veteransinfo.shtml
UPDATE (7/14/06): FBI and VA Inspector General conducted a forensic examination on the laptop and reported that no data had been removed. But experts say there are ways to thwart detection.
Deadline for comments is May 11, 2006
Prohibit Debt Collectors from Calling Cell Phones: Comments to the Federal Communications Commission
Submitted by the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse on
May 11, 2006
Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20554
Filed electronically: www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs
Comments to the Federal Communications Commission regarding Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI), CC Docket No. 96-115
Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary
Federal Communications Commission
445 12 th Street, SW
Washington , DC 20554
Filed electronically: www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs
RE: Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) -- CC Docket No. 96-115
Dear Secretary Dortch:
Speech by Beth Givens, PRC Director, at the Conference of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners
Nashville, TN
April 5, 2006
The theme of this panel is the tradeoff between the right to privacy and the right to know. I think the tension between openness and privacy is one of the more challenging public policy issues of our time.