Diana has been a victim of check forgery fraud (someone used a computer to create a copy of her checks). They were able to withdraw $6,300 from her checking account to buy a car and apparently had a copy of her signature (she says they were able to make it look like her own hand). She was upset because the police would not take a police report and told her they're inundated with fraud cases. She also thinks the person works for the check sales company she used because the fraudulent check was cashed recently after she ordered new checks.

Presentation by Beth Givens
Marketplace of Ideas conference
Hosted by San Francisco Nonprofit Support Center

I'm going to talk for just a bit about privacy public opinion and trends, and then launch into what we at the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse think are some do's and don'ts for nonprofits in handling mailing lists and other personal information.

Consumer advocates say that privacy is THE consumer issue of the 90s. We would not dispute that.

Someone with the same name and birthdate as Fred was involved in a hit-and-run case in northern California. The Department of Motor Vehicles sent notification of the case to his employer. Living in southern California, he had to spend considerable time and money, including traveling to northern California to appear in court, in order to clear his name.

Fred's name has been changed to protect his privacy.

Ricardo works for a California company in Mexico City. He saw the company doctor and requested an HIV test. He later found out that the doctor had told someone in the human resources department who in turn told his supervisor of the test request.

Ricardo's name has been changed to protect his privacy.

Sandy donated plasma at a private clinic. When she first donated, she was told that none of the information she provided to them would be released to anyone. Recently, she returned to the clinic to donate plasma again. She happened to glance at the bulletin board in the donation center and noticed that her name was included on a list of donors.

Sandy's name has been changed to protect her privacy.

Roy began receiving sexually-explicit mail, with "Bambi" written on the outside of the envelope. He did not know why he was receiving such mail. Roy was embarrassed by this and reported it to the Postal Inspector. The Postal Inspector was not aware that the Postal Service offers its customers a form to fill out that notifies the mailers to stop sending sexually explicit mail.

Roy’s name has been changed to protect his privacy.

Pat was required by the court to be electronically monitored for a drug and alcohol related conviction. She was upfront about her situation with her supervisor and the human resources department at her workplace. They assured her she would not lose her job. In fact, she was considered to be a star employee, among the top 10 in sales volume. An employee of the company which monitors electronic monitoring devices gave details about Pat's case to her employer. She was terminated.

Stacy has been stalked for several years. It started in college when the stalker got her Social Security number off a list of grades posted by a professor. They used it to track her down whenever she moves (not threatening to physically harm her, but letting her know they knows where she lives). She said that the Social Security Administration was no help.

Stacy's name has been changed to protect her privacy.

Craig received a survey from the California Department of Transportation. It indicated that the license plate of his car had been recorded by a camera on a certain section of the freeway on a specific date and asked him to report the final destination of his trip. He was very upset that his whereabouts were being tracked by a government agency.

Craig's name has been changed to protect his privacy.

Judy is a disabled senior citizen that needs to ride in a vans specially equipped for mobile-impaired persons. Her local transit agency puts riders' Social Security numbers on the passes that must be shown upon entering the vehicle. She was upset when the driver looked at her card and wrote down her number in his notebook—worried that they might use it to harm her in some way.

Judy's name has been changed to protect her privacy.