Alert: FTC Disposal Rule: Does It Apply to You

Review and Reaction to the Article:
“Alert: FTC Disposal Rule: Does It Apply to You?” (Privacy)

In “Alert: FTC Disposal Rule,” the author reports on the enactment of a ruling from the FTC regulating the disposal of sensitive consumer information. The target of the ruling is proper disposal of sensitive, personal information which consumers have been required to summit for services or which has been collected from them in the course of business. Both individuals and large business are to comply with this ruling.
The goal of the Disposal Rule is to protect consumers from identity theft.
The Rule applies to all forms of information gathering including paper, disc, and computer. The method of destruction is left to those who collect it. However, simply discarding sensitive information in a trash can or bin without taking effective measures to destroy it is, with this ruling, illegal and punishable.
The list of persons and business affected by this ruling is extensive and includes some persons who might not even know about it: landlords with tenant history, parents who hire someone to work in their home to take care of children.
This article was reviewed because it is about the FTC ruling upon which the previous article on prevention of identity theft was written. There are many sensitive documents viewed in the daily course of daily work. My workplace has many limitations placed on viewing electronic documents and actively tracks viewing. Document types of all kinds are carefully disposed in specific containers located in multiple places. I am continually impressed with how much security must be built around good services to protect consumers. I am impressed with the responsibility to handle and discard documents carefully.


Work Cited

Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. “Alert: FTC Disposal Rule: Does It Apply to
You?” Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. 3 June 2005. 14 Nov. 2008.
<http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/FTC-DisposalRule.htm>.
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