Boston.com / Business / 1.2m US workers' personal data lost

Boston.com / Business / 1.2m US workers' personal data lost: " Bank of America Corp. has lost computer data tapes containing personal information on 1.2 million federal employees, including some members of the US Senate.
The lost data includes Social Security numbers and account information that could make customers of a federal government charge card program vulnerable to identity theft.
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''We deeply regret this unfortunate incident," said Barbara Desoer, who is in charge of technology, service, and fulfillment for the Charlotte bank. ''The privacy of customer information receives the highest priority at Bank of America, and we take our responsibilities for safeguarding it very seriously."
Leahy has been a leader of calls this week for a Senate Judiciary Committee inquiry into whether more regulation of companies that buy and sell personal data is needed. This came after the disclosure that ChoicePoint Inc., a Georgia data warehouser, had learned that as many as 140,000 consumers may have had their personal information compromised.
''I hope this latest incident at least will bring the issue closer to home so Congress will pay better attention to the rapid erosion of privacy rights that ordinary Americans are facing as more and more of their personal and financial information is collected and sold on databases that too often have too few privacy protections," Leahy said in a statement yesterday."

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