#1 2009-06-11 09:25:55
Everyone in town should be screaming about what personal information, social security numbers, financial records, credit card information, etc. is on the hard drive of town computers -- and now in the hands of some computer geek somewhere who is going to be scanning that hard drive and who has no legal right to that information.
Did you ever pay the Town by check or credit card? Your address, bank, and account number may be on a hard drive. What about payroll records? There can be court-ordered judgment and collection actions that would reveal private information about the payor and also about the recipient. Do you want the world to know how much child support you're paying or receiving? What about private health information that is protected by federal law? What about residents' social security numbers that may be used for identification purposes on a Town computer? By now, we are all aware of the risk of identity theft when a social security number falls into the wrong hands.
Beyond the "witch hunt" aspect of this "audit," we should be thinking about how the BoS showed no thought or concern for the potential and serious consequences of their actions in obtaining and transmitting the information on those hard drives.
Offline
#2 2009-06-11 09:39:53
You are correct. The Mass laws governing privacy are the strictest in the country. If procedures laid out in the privacy act are not followed to the letter, the BOS could be in violation of the law. I will research and post the link. We recently made changes to software on our computers at work and had to conform to the Mass Privacy Law.
I'll see if i can find the link.
Offline
#3 2009-06-11 09:49:05
Molly,
Here is the link:
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=ocaterminal … &csid=Eoca
Hope this helps.
Offline
#4 2009-06-11 09:56:50
Thanks Maplesprings. That certainly covers it.
Every citizen in town should be outraged about this. And the fact that two of the selectmen in the audio clearly state that they want to know who is blogging tells me that our personal information has been put at risk over yet another vendetta by this bos.
Where is the outrage people? Tell your friends and neighbors who don't read the local news and might not realize their personal information may have been compromised.
Offline
#5 2009-06-11 11:02:51
We can add this to the list of transgressions by the BOS and TA. The good news is if they are found to be noncompliant, it's a legal issue. The bad news is they will probably fine the town, which is another bill we don't need.
Offline
#6 2009-06-11 11:11:52
If they fine the town, I say we make these wing nuts pay for their dirty deeds. In cash of course. Oh right, if you can't pay your taxes, I'm sure you can find an excuse for not paying the fine.
Here is another concern of mine--I'm not a town employee, but if they can get into this blog, then how am I impacted by this? I am a private citizen. They should have no right to read anything I have written nor to get into the email account I gave to sign up for my registration on this site.
Also, if you have ever emailed anyone who works for the town can they get into your personal email account even if you are not a town employee? I'm sure they don't appreciate my postings, but wouldn't that be the ultimate illegal act?
Is anyone else concerned who is a private citizen and not covered under the town's computer policy?
I'm already concerned because the town has some of my personal information stored on hard drives. Should I be doubly concerned?
Offline
#7 2009-06-11 11:36:18
If they are looking for who is posting to the Blog, they are specifically looking for town employees posting to the blog, not private citizens. Now, I'm rational and like to abide by the law, so I would think the search stops there. If they use the information obtained to log into the blog in search of the identities of private citizens, then I would refer back to the link I gave you. That would clearly be a violation of the law. That is outside the scope of the search, or at least it should be. If not, then there is a big bag of doodoo the BOS would hopefully want to avoid. Again, I can only speak from a rational point of view, and based on the actions and reactions of the BOS, that may not be the case.
Violation of privacy laws is serious stuff.
Offline
#8 2009-06-11 12:29:58
You are right. I'm just wondering if it can be done--physically. If they get in this blog by going through a town employees computer, can they then get into my private emails etc.?
Offline
#9 2009-06-11 12:49:36
I don't think they can Molly. They would need your password to access your emails. Now, if you emailed a town employee, they may be able to access that email.
Offline
#10 2009-06-11 13:22:16
Molly,
I'd worry more about your information on Town-wide computers than information here. Information you think they could access from this site would be a legistical nightmare.
Offline
#11 2009-06-12 17:48:20
Just to be clear on a couple of things here:
MA 201 CMR 17.00 (the law linked above) refers only to very specific types of private data - first name and last name, or first initial and last name, combined with SSN, driver's license #, or financial account number. Anything else - address, phone, salary, etc - is not covered by that law. Also, it states that certain things must be performed to protect that data, it does not prohibit transfer of that data. However, anybody who receives it (in this case, the firm doing the investigation) must also abide by the law. Also, the implementation dates have been pushed back several times, but I'm not sure what the current date is. Now, there are other laws/statutes that can cover this, but I don't want people to think that there's automatically a legal issue relating to 201 CMR 17.00.
Molly, they cannot access any emails, other than those you may have sent to town employees, unless you included your password. Even then, accessing your information would violate a number of different statutes.
As for the idea of searching for private citizens who are posting on this blog - there's no way they could do it. The technical method of getting that information would be to retrieve the access logs from this web server, where you can get the IP addresses of users of the site. This would also let you differentiate between readers of the site and posters to the site, as well as (depending on how the site is configured) potentially tie IP addresses to specific user accounts. All of this requires either a cooperative website, which probably doesnt apply here, or a subpoena, which would require probable cause, which doesn't exist in this case. Then there are some options for tying an IP address to an actual person - if it's a verizon/comcast address, they can subpoena for the account belonging to the IP address at that time. If it's coming from a town IP, they can get it that way. etc, etc...
Offline
#12 2009-06-12 19:59:48
What about the sensitive information at the police dept.
1. confidential investigations ( some propbaly involving some of the selectman)
2. Narcotic investigation
3. investigative reports
4. rape and sex crime (victims personal information and identification)
4. all juvenile arrest and investigations (protected by law)
5. On going investigations containing cruicial info still being worked on.
6. All information in reports that is protected by CORI and cant be released to anyone unless edited.
7. Witness statments
8. Confidential witness identities and statements ( this could get an informant killed and probably will )
9. No informant or witnesses will ever feel safe giving information or statements again, fearing their id will be learned. This is the number one way police fight the drug war.
10. protected sex offender information.
11. Identity of people calling and reporting crimes or problems. ( Many against selectman)
12. And I am sure a lot more.
13. Never mind the assessors info being leaked, Every police report done list all people involved name , address, DOB, SS #, license number. Wow last I checked the pd writes about 3,000.00 reports a year. That is a lot of personal information illegally taken and shared with god knows who. Prepare for a large increase in Identity theft in the town of Wareham. This is for real, and really really bad and illegal.
This is a total disgrace and completely against the law. The BOS action could cause serious ramifacations for anyone who ever gave sensitive or incriminating evidence to the police.
Offline
