It is the risk you take the return of the products of some type of storage solution, if its a USB key, laptop, or an Xbox 360.
CBC News reported that Staples (Business Depot) in the Canada has violated the right to privacy by wiping not full data of the customers off the coast of laptop computers and storage devices that are returned by customers.
According to the report of the Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart has carried out an audit on 17 of 300 Staples stores across the country, including 15 had devices intended to be resold which have not been entirely destroyed. These devices included desktop PCs, notebooks, memory cards and USB hard drives that supposedly already endured a wipe process and restore them before returning to the retail shelf.
But overall, the audit found 54 149 still verified devices contained information, Bank of record tax, social insurance numbers, health card number, passport numbers and left by the previous owners of additional information. Laptops have been the biggest offenders, with 17 of the 20 taking always into old data of the user.
Stoddart said that she did not have the power to impose sanctions, but it has been suggested that Staples reassess how it removes the old data. "Until our recommendation on the client data wiping is fully implemented, personal information will continue to remain at risk, and Staples will not satisfy its obligations under PIPEDA,"Stoddart report said.""
Staples followed with an official statement claiming cooperated with the Office of the Commissioner for the protection of personal information in the audit. "In addition, Staples has implemented changes that exceed the current industry practice to remove the personal data of devices memory returned," the company said, adding that it was currently testing several ways to wipe the data from the returned storage devices.
But the retailer of Office also said that crash data, which was proposed by the Office of the Commissioner for the protection of information privacy and one of the more reliable methods to eradicate the old data, is not an option, stating that the process could damage some of the devices.
Recent audit of the Stoddart is not he first time Office of the Commissioner for the protection of personal information considered complaints relating to Staples user data. She called the latest findings "particularly disappointing", given that the same problem resurfaced in 2004 and 2008, and that Staples is committed to corrective measures to resolve the problem of privacy for both.
Sounds like the United States-based Staples may need to be checked too.
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